If you think of the great runners of our time, you’d probably be excused if the name Terry Rex doesn’t come to mind.
Rex, whose name can be shortened to T-Rex and has the real name Arnie Delstanche, was 20 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Now nearly nine years cancer free, Rex has turned his deep-rooted connection with Cancer Research UK into an opportunity to support them, as he runs in marathons and other events to raise money for the charity that means so much to him. However, if it wasn’t already obvious, he’s doing these runs in an inflatable tyrannosaurus-rex costume.
Delstanche spoke about his diagnoses saying ” I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 20 years old, cancer research just in general is something that’s been quite close to me. Thankfully.”
“I’m eight years clear from that now nearly nine. But the main thing really was more about spreading awareness.” He smiled proudly.
Delstanche then spoke on his impact on the public “I think a lot of people don’t realise that actually spreading awareness and inspiring others has such more of a secondary effect in terms of influence than the actual funds that are raised individually.
“What I call the multiplier of one person influencing several has such a good knock-on effect on all of these things, and I’ve already heard loads of people tell me about just how inspired they are by me running as a T-Rex to try and start their own fundraising journey.”
Terry Rex’s fundraising efforts brought him to Sierra Leone a place he had visited before but not quite for a marathon dressed as a T-Rex.
“I was working in affiliation with a charity known as Street Child, whose original base of operations was in Sierra Leone, and so I was out there helping support them with regards to some of their efforts, and more importantly, doing some humanitarian work that culminated into a marathon, or at least for those who wanted to participate, could join in.” The runner said.
Terry Rex continued with a smirk “I thought, what better way to educate the local populace of Sierra Leone than to bring a dinosaur costume to educate them about some of our prehistoric ancestors so really, it was about an opportunity to provide a bit of entertainment as well as really get a better understanding as to how things are in Sierra Leone.”
And with a gruelling African marathon over the next step for Terry Rex look different after the theft of his iconic costume, “I think I’ve been suffering for nearly two years now, solely for the entertainment of others, it’d be nice now to suffer for myself, so to speak, and see how far I can get in terms of running without the costume on.”
