By Pepper Parr
September 15, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Mark Mulholland was 24 the day Terry Fox ran through the streets of Burlington. Fox was on his way to a reception at Royal Botanical Gardens but “I wanted to see the man while he was running and I decided to watch from the side walk on Lakeshore Road.”
Terry Fox captured on film by Mark Mulholland as Terry ran along Lakeshore Road on July 13th, 1980.
”I used a small 35mm Vivitar camera I was given as a graduation gift – it was pretty automatic – all I had to do was point and click.
“I remember saying hello to Terry as he passed by – I don’t remember if he said anything back to me.
“I had the sense that I was watching someone heroic. It was an incredible feeling. I felt I was there alone with him.”
The picture was taken at a spot almost opposite to where there is a monument put up by citizens who understand how important an occasion that run was.
Terry Fox started something – high school kids who weren’t born when he made his run get out there every year and relate to a courageous young man.
Mulholland made a revealing comment when he said Terry Fox wasn’t a celebrity and added “we didn’t have celebrities then. We had heros.”
A group of citizens collected the funds, oversaw the design and made sure that an historic occasion for the city and the county was properly commemorated.
Mulholland said he kept the picture on his desk for years, it faded after a while. Then he had it enlarged – remember those were the days of film – not digital. When the web site for the Fox run was created he knew the picture had to be there as well.
“What I remember most” said Mulholland “was that he didn’t have any airs about him. The feeling I had that day has never left me.”
