Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Oct 05/05) - For 25 years, Terry Fox's heroics have inspired young people in Canada to get off the couch and raise money for cancer research.

In the Kivalliq, school children were inspired to walk or jog by the story of Terry Fox, and had a chance to learn about him before they set off on their run.

A CBC documentary about Fox was shown to students throughout the region, and teachers report that they have never seen the kids so attentive.

In Whale Cove, teacher Andrea Laidlaw was in awe. "They were riveted (to the Fox video), they were all really into it," said Laidlaw.

All 95 kids at the school in Whale Cove participated and raised $239. By auctioning one of the new Marathon of Hope t-shirts, they raised $60 of that.

In Baker Lake, Rachel Arngnammaktiq school raised $1,241.25, and the high school is still counting its money.

There were between 450 and 500 school children, most of the 600 to 700 people that took part. Teacher Brad Mainse was proud of his kids.

"They watched the video, and the kids really took to it. I was amazed how quiet they were. Kids were asking other kids to be quiet," said Mainse.

The RCMP led the way in Baker Lake, and Mainse organized for the elementary school, with Tippa Gamage handling the duties at the high school. The kindergarten and Grade 1 students walked one km, Grade 3 and under went 4 kms and everyone else walked to the airport and back, around 7.5 kms.

Skipping school after completing the Terry Fox Run has become a tradition for school kids all through Canada. In Baker Lake, the teachers got smart this year.

"Both schools had a lunch after to get the kids back to school. We had almost complete attendance," said Mainse.