The Terry Fox statue in Community Foundation Park next to Four Seasons Pool is incomplete.
It needs a companion.
It needs Rick Hansen.
A statue of Hansen would be perfect next to Fox, especially if it was unveiled in 2015 during the city's centennial and the 30th anniversary of the start of Hansen's three-year Man In Motion world tour that raised tens of millions of dollars for research into spinal cord injuries.
Visitors to Prince George during the 2015 Canada Winter Games who walk over from the Civic Centre Plaza to admire the Fox statue will no doubt be surprised to learn Fox completed his first marathon in Prince George, at the 1979 Labour Day Classic. The dream of the Marathon of Hope across Canada was already in Fox's mind but in Prince George, he discovered he had the heart and the endurance to do it.
Fox wasn't the only one who put on an extraordinary performance that day in 1979. Hansen was there, too, for the first of three consecutive appearances at the Labour Day Classic in Prince George. Sadly, that historical nugget is not widely known in Prince George and the Central Interior, never mind in the province.
The fact that Fox and Hansen competed in a road race together in Prince George before becoming national heroes is a unique piece of Canadian history that deserve proper recognition. There are many statues of Fox and Hansen in Canada but there is likely no place in the country where there are monuments side-by-side to these two inspiring Canadian icons, never mind the reason to put them together.
But there is in this city.
Let's get to work, Prince George, and bring this incredible moment in our local history to life.
It's time we properly honoured a great Canadian from the Central Interior in Hansen while also celebrating our special place in his story, Fox's story and our national story.
And let's get out Sunday morning to cheer on the participants of this year's Labour Day Classic. Thirty-four years ago, two determined young men completed the race and used that accomplishment to inspire them to greatness. The encouragement of Prince George residents that day made them believe in themselves and their dreams.
This year's participants deserve the same support.
