A huge crowd of Kaohsiung residents took part in the 2004 Terry Fox Run in the southern port city of Kaohsiung yesterday to raise funds for cancer research.
The non-competitive, recreational run was organized by Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU). Kaohsiung City Deputy Mayor Yao Kao-chiao (
PHOTO: YANG CHING-CHING, TAIPEI TIMES
Many foreign expatriates also participated in the run through the city's major thoroughfares to show their support for the cause.
KMU President Wang said the annual Terry Fox Run is an international fundraiser aimed at encouraging cancer research.
Noting that the KMU is carrying out many innovative cancer treatment research programs, Wang said financial support from the Terry Fox Foundation has contributed much to the university's research work and has benefited many cancer patients.
Taiwan began to sponsor the annual Terry Fox Run in 1995. This year, the event will be held in four cities around the island -- Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taichung and Hualien. The Taipei run is scheduled for Oct. 31.
The annual Terry Fox Run commemorates Terry Fox, a Canadian track and field athlete who had his right leg amputated in 1977 at the age of 18 due to bone cancer. He managed to run across Canada with a prosthetic leg to raise funds for cancer research before dying of the cancer in 1981.
Despite his death, Fox's courage, perseverance and love spread around the world through his cross-Canada run. Nowadays, 8,000 cities in more than 50 countries around the world hold the Terry Fox Run annually to commemorate him and raise funds for cancer research.
In related news, the first Chinese marathon will be held on the outlying island of Penghu Sunday, with more than 4,600 Chinese runners from around the world participating.
Penghu County government said that there will be three divisions: a 42.2km marathon, a 10km race and a 3km race.
All three groups will depart from downtown Makung. The marathoners will run to the Cross-Sea Bridge, the longest inter-island bridge in the Far East, and then return.
Participants include Taiwan runners Wu Wen-chien (
Penghu County Tourism Bureau head Lin Yao-cheng (
Chi Cheng (
Chi said that although the cash prizes for the winners of the races are not very big, it is the spirit of the event that matters and that in the future the purse could increase. The races are expected to be held each year from now on, she added.
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS