The Run of Hope took place in Macao on Sunday, attracting close to 300 participants who helped raise money for cancer research at Kiang Wu Hospital and to support the ECF Orphanage.
Run of Hope is an annual event organised by Four Seasons properties around the world, primarily in support of cancer research and care.
The initiative was inspired by Canadian athlete and activist Terry Fox, whose right leg was amputated due to bone cancer in 1980. In 1981, Fox embarked on a cross-Canada run using a prosthetic leg to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Unfortunately, the disease took the 22-year-old’s life that same year.
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Locally, this year’s run – Macao’s twelfth – was organised by the Four Seasons Hotel Macao, the International School of Macao and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Participants could choose from a 5.6-kilometre run or 3-kilometre walk, both starting from the hotel in Cotai.
Macao’s first Run of Hope event took place in 2009, after the city’s Four Seasons opened in 2008. The hotel’s manager, Daphne Ng, told TDM that this year’s aim was to raise 500,000 patacas for cancer patients and the local orphanage.
This year’s Run of Hope ended with brunch on the hotel’s lawn. A statement from the Four Seasons said that Sunday’s runners were all “dedicated to spreading hope and making a difference in our community.”