The Terry Fox Run, one of the more popular road races in the Bangor area in the past 20 years, didn’t come back for its 21st, but the possibility still exists that it could return next fall.

The race, which had to drop its affiliation with Terry Fox last fall, became the Run for Hope 5-kilometer road race. The Terry Fox Foundation of Canada had objected to the fact that while proceeds went to cancer research, it wasn’t “primary research,” per se. Foundation officials also were upset that the race was a timed, competitive event.

Those problems festered several years before the affiliation was dropped last fall. However, current race director Peter Daigle remains hopeful that the Fox affiliation may return to the Bangor race.

Daigle has been attempting to work out the problems with Breeda McClew, the international director of the Terry Fox Foundation.

“The biggest issue is they need to approve where the funds go,” Daigle said.

Race organizers want the race funds to stay in the community and donate the money to the Eastern Maine Medical Center’s CancerCare of Maine, which uses the funds for a breast cancer trial.

Even without the direct Fox affiliation this year, the race had its best fund-raising year ever, as it donated $11,500 to EMMC, according to Daigle.

The race still may have benefited from the identification with Fox, however, as it was modeled after past Fox Runs, was held at the same time of the year and raised money to battle cancer, as Fox did. Fox was a one-legged runner who attempted a transcontinental run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research before succumbing to cancer a second time and dying in 1981.

McClew said funds from Fox Runs have to go to primary cancer research. She said she believed the foundation would approve funds from the Bangor race to be used for research at EMMC.

She is adamant, however, that several other policies be followed for the race – that it can’t be a timed event, that an entry fee can’t be charged and that a race sponsor can’t commercialize the race.

“The policies and guidelines of the Terry Fox Foundation, put in place before Terry Fox died, were that there would be no commercialization of the Terry Fox Run. If companies want to give money and support the run, they’d do so for the right reasons: a cure for cancer,” McClew said. “Other policies and guidelines have to be adhered to as well: It has to be a noncompetitive run and people give what they can afford. There’s no entry fee for a Terry Fox run, but every single dollar, if it is just a dollar, is appreciated.”

Daigle said the Bangor run could change over to collecting pledges, the way March of Dimes events do, to alleviate the problem of entry fees.

“The Fox story is such a great story, we’d like to keep the tradition here,” Daigle said.

The sticking point may be having the race as a timed, competitive event. Daigle said he still has to talk more with McClew about that policy, but he is hopeful for a solution since there may be cases of a major sponsor supporting timed Fox runs in Canada.

Daigle emphasized that there were “absolutely no feelings of antagonism” between organizers of the Bangor run and the Fox Foundation, but said if the problems couldn’t be worked out, organizers would stick with the Run For Hope, which was a successful event.

Much of that success may be due to the race following a Fox theme. The foundation for that success was built by Ed Rice, a journalist from Orono and a pioneer in beginning road races as successful fund-raisers in Maine. He founded the first Bangor race in the spring of 1982 and put in lots of work to make the race a continual success in its 20-year history.

The first race attracted 424 people, and the event boomed in the mid-1980s with numbers in the 500s and 600s. It was the second biggest run in Maine in 1986 (623 runners) when legendary marathoner Bill Rodgers attended.

During those years, Rice overcame problems with the race beneficiary, sponsorship and a decrease in popularity in road racing.

For the first year and subsequent years, Rice was inspired by the Fox example.

“This kid got to me, he got to me big,” Rice said. “When I went through the worst time of my life, he became a symbol to me … really literally, that one man can make a difference,” he said. “But the best thing he proved to me is that you don’t prove what you’re made of during good times, you prove what you’re made of during bad times.”

During his years of dedication to the Fox Run in Bangor, Rice said he was aware of the original concept behind the Fox events being a noncompetitive celebration.

“I respect that very much. It’s not easy to think that I was in violation,” he said.

However, he believed that the Bangor race didn’t have to change, as it was doing its best to follow Fox’s ideals and it was raising money to battle cancer. Moreover, its base remained strong because of local runners who preferred it as a competitive event.

“I joked with friends that if I could run with Terry in that other place, then we’d talk about this, because then he could have a look at what we had done [with the Bangor runs],” he said.

Rice was surprised when the Fox Foundation started having problems with the Bangor run, because it was no secret to Fox officials as to how the race was organized – he sent them press clippings each year. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that McClew approached him about the problems, and it wasn’t until before the 1999 race that she told him that policies for Fox Runs had been put into writing.

She then explained to him that some races would have to stop if they weren’t in compliance, and it could happen to the Bangor race. Rice said he understood and asked whether the 20th race still could be held with the Fox affiliation in 2002.

“After 20 years, I could let go. EMMC understood, the sponsor understood. Everyone understood that if it was not a Terry Fox Run, then they can’t expect me to do it,” he said.

Rice remains hopeful that Daigle can help work out the problems, and the Fox Run can return to Bangor. If so, he would want to help with the race again.

In trying to summarize his feelings of work on the race, and some of the problems that resulted with the Fox Foundation, Rice emphasized his belief that it was a clash of idealism.

It reminded him of a classic saying: “‘There ain’t no good guys, there ain’t no bad guys, there’s just you and me and we just disagree.’ In this instance, this is a battle of idealism,” he said. “It really, really seems a shame.”

Sports editor Joe McLaughlin can be reached at 990-8229 or mclaulin@bangordailynews.net.