Thousands of volunteers are expected to join a charity race in Shanghai in October in an aim to collect funds for cancer patients.

Citizens of Shanghai are now welcome to enter the 8th annual Terry Fox Run slated for October 23 at 9:00 AM in Pudong Century Park, according to the co-organizers of Shanghai Charity Foundation and Shanghai General Administration of Sport.

With the dual goals of raising funds for cancer research and generating awareness about cancer, the annual charity event is been the largest of its kind held in the metropolis in eastern China.

Terry Fox, a promising young Canadian athlete who lost his leg to cancer when he was a teenager, launched a cross-Canada Marathon of Hope in 1980 to raise money for cancer research.

After running for 5,376 kilometers, the cancer that had taken his right leg spread to his lungs and forced Fox to quit.

He died less than a year later at the age of 21 but his courage, vision and determination continue to have an effect. People in about 70 countries and regions participated in the charity event every year to continue Fox's goal of raising money for cancer research.

Shanghai joined the tradition in 1998 by launching the 1st Annual Terry Fox Run. Local residents, including foreigners, have raised more than 2.2 million yuan (over US$270,000) in the past seven consecutive events here for Terry Fox Run Cancer Research Center at the local Ruijin Hospital.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2005)