It was Petr Faitl’s first ever Fox Run. But even with nothing to compare it too, he ranked it as a great event.

The Fort Langley resident, who only took up running again this spring, said the sunny skies, a large crowd of more than 125 participants, and a friendly team of volunteers made the Walnut Grove Terry Fox Run an event he’d like to attend again.

Faitl was the first runner in, finishing the five-kilometre leg of the fundraising run in about 22 minutes.

He hasn’t run since he was a teenager, and consequently was pleased with his time, especially since he spent the first few minutes doing a partial lap around the Walnut Grove Secondary track with his wife Deborah Moore and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Katherine.

This was the first community running event he’s ever taken part in, but expect a lot more will be coming up since he recently joined a running club and is starting to meet like-minded people in his new community.

He and his family moved to Langley from Manchester, England in February, looking for what he calls a lifestyle change.

While believing in the cause behind the run, Faitl said he also likes it because it encourages families to come out and participate.

He believes it’s very important to get children active at an early age, and his daughter often throws on her toy stethoscope (similar in appearance to Faitl’s MP3 players) and goes “running with Daddy.”

This year’s Terry Fox Run attracted a similar number of participants to past, but organizer Jack Morrison noted there were a few more families out this time around.

Morrison was once again joined by about a dozen other members of the Rotary Club of Langley Sunrise who have helped coordinate the Walnut Grove event for the past 17 years.

This was the 32nd annual Terry Fox Run, and Morrison said nothing really changes much for the Walnut Grove event – except maybe the weather (and he was grateful for the sunny skies that befell this year’s event).

“We did, however, do a full start this year instead of staggering it… it made it a little more exciting,” Morrison said.

While some donations will continue to come in online over the next few weeks, he said the Walnut Grove Terry Fox Run raised about $6.000 for the Terry Fox Foundation – up slightly from last year’s fundraising tally.