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VIDEO: Walnut Grove students rise to challenge of Tuff Wally

Secondary school’s annual obstacle challenge pays off for Terry Fox Foundation
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Staff and students at Walnut Grove Secondary tested their mettle Wednesday morning, during the Tuff Wally fundraiser in support of the Terry Fox Foundation. Troy Landreville Langley Times

Gators don’t mind getting muddy, especially when they’re raising money for cancer research.

Late Wednesday morning, Walnut Grove Secondary School (WGSS) hosted its annual Tuff Wally fundraiser, and the 35 teams of teachers and students from the school that carries the ‘Gators’ moniker definitely had to be tough to take part.

Tuff Wally is an obstacle course modeled after Tuff Mudder, and the course finishes with students climbing over a 10 foot wall.

WGSS teacher and athletic director Chris Bertoia, who co-organized Tuff Wally along with vice principal Logan Kitteringham, teacher Terry Stead, youth worker Rosemary Davis, and students from WGSS’s 11/12 Leadership and Athletic Class, said Tuff Wally is “something that’s always been big, here, in the school.”

“We designed it so that no one can do it on their own, but in teams of five, anybody can do it.”

The goal is to support the school’s large fundraising campaign for the Terry Fox Foundation.

“We had over 1,600 students do a 3.2 km Terry Fox run in their P.E. classes with the goal as a school running the same distance as Terry Fox set out to run (in 1980),” Bertoia said.

Students who signed up for Tuff Wally were asked to raise funds for the Terry Fox Foundation, and some teams rose to the challenge by raising more than $500 each.

This kind of support helped the school community raise more than $19,000 for the cause.

Some teachers took on challenges as an incentive for their classes to raise a certain amount of money, Bertoia said.

P.E. teacher Don Sparks had his legs waxed because his class reached their fundraising goal. As well, since the school exceeded the $15,000 fundraising goal, Kitteringham had his eyebrows dyed pink and the school’s other vice principal, Paul Trattle, had his head shaved.

To date, more than $750 million has been raised worldwide in Terry Fox’s name “to fund the most promising and innovative research,” noted the foundation.

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Walnut Grove Secondary’s Tuff Wally obstacle challenge, an annual fundraiser for cancer research, was held at Walnut Grove Park this year and included a 10-foot wall that participants had to scale over, with helping hands from volunteers and teammates. Troy Landreville Langley Times
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Tuff Wally is an annual fundraiser involving Walnut Grove Secondary students and staff with a goal of raising funds for cancer research. On Wednesday morning, the event was held at Walnut Grove Park. Troy Landreville Langley Times
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Tuff Wally is an annual fundraiser involving Walnut Grove Secondary students and staff with a goal of raising funds for cancer research. On Wednesday morning, the event was held at Walnut Grove Park. Troy Landreville Langley Times Tuff Wally is an annual fundraiser involving Walnut Grove Secondary students and staff with a goal of raising funds for cancer research. On Wednesday morning, the event was held at Walnut Grove Park. Troy Landreville Langley Times