Amputees France and Antoo receive tickets to participate in Canada from NSC

Sep 02, 2015 Sports

By Sean Devers
After losing a leg in unfortunate circumstances, 58 year-old William France is now one of the Region’s top Amputee athletes and will lead a five-member Guyana team which is scheduled to depart for Canada on September 16 to compete the Annual Terry Fox Run on September 20.

William France (standing center) and his team that will be taking part in this year’s Terry Fox Run in Canada.

The team which includes Wheel Chair Competitor 27 -year-old Indie Ramnauth, John Antoo (who has an artificial leg) along with two Guides is confident of doing well in North America.
Director of Sport Christopher Jones on behalf of the National Sports Commission (NSC) provided France and Antoo with two air tickets to the event in which successful competitors are presented with medals and trophies but no cash.
“We don’t work anywhere so in order to sustain our trips and ourselves we have to seek donations and would like to thank the public for their assistance” said France who has competed in eight Terry Fox runs (six in Canada and two in Guyana).
The Terry Fox Run is an annual non-competitive charity event held in numerous regions around the world in commemoration of Canadian Cancer activist Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope to raise money for Cancer research.
The event was founded in 1981 by Isadore Sharp, who contacted Fox in hospital by telegram and expressed his wishes to hold an annual run in Fox’s name to raise funds for Cancer research; Sharp himself had lost a son to cancer in 1979.
The event is held every year on the second Sunday following Labour Day. Since its inception, it has raised via the ‘Terry Fox Foundation’ over $650 million. France who is the President and founder William France Differently Able Athletic Club (WFDAC) which was formed on August 13, 1998, informed that in the last eight months the club which has 13 members all of whom are Differently Able has raised G$ 386,000.
Prime Minister Mosses Nagamootoo will make a contribution to their cause tomorrow. According to France 60% of the funds is contributed to the club while the other 40% is shared among the members who themselves raise the funds by standing at the Berbice River Bridge, the Demerara Harbor Bridge and other places on the Essequibo Coast.
The team will be in Berbice on Saturday and in Essequibo the following Saturday to solicit funds to off-set the overall cost of the trip. France, who was awarded a Medal of Service in 1996 and the Walter Rodney award in 1997 for his Social Work, informed that the team is still $186,000 short of their budget and added that in the last 20 years $2.3 million was raised for Charity.
France, who hopes to go to the USA on November 4 for another race, walked from Number 43 Village in West Berbice to Stabroek Market (100 miles) in November 1994 in 37 hours, 18 minutes, 13 seconds.
He also took two days to walk from Skeldon in Berbice to the GDF ground along with Dennis Burns in July 1995. He has expressed gratitude to Ramchand Auto Sales, Ming’s Products & Services, DaSilva’s Optical, Len’s Craft Optical and the Ministry of Health.

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