Brock University is rolling out the welcome mat for this year’s St. Catharines Terry Fox Run.

The annual fundraising run has been held in Port Dalhousie for nearly four decades, but this year’s high water levels along with construction projects at Lakeside Park meant a new home was needed for the Sept. 17 event.

Brock’s partnership with the Terry Fox Run has been getting stronger over the past few years with more staff, faculty and students taking part than ever before.

“Brock is proud to be the host site for the 2017 St. Catharines Terry Fox Run,” said University President Gervan Fearon Thursday after raising the Terry Fox flag in a ceremony at St. Catharines city hall. “In recent years, our students and staff have increasingly joined the community in supporting the event, and scientists at the University have received generous funding from the Terry Fox Foundation to do important cancer research at Brock.”

The St. Catharines Terry Fox Run and a post-run party will be held on the Brock campus starting at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17, which is also the final day of the University’s Homecoming Weekend. The Fox event will also include remarks by Brock researchers, and tours of Brock labs where important cancer research is taking place.

“It brings another dynamic to it,” said Doug Harvey from the St. Catharines Terry Fox Run committee. “It brings a larger audience and I think support from Brock students and the whole group up there is really going to be a benefit to the event.”

The five-kilometre route can be walked, run or wheeled. Parking will be free for the event, and there’s no entrance fee and no fundraising minimum. However, Harvey said the goal this year is to raise more than the nearly $50,000 that was donated in 2016, when around 600 people took part.

Registration is available on the Terry Fox Foundation website, where you can join as an individual or join the Brock University team.