Almost 80 sailors from the German Navy were out stretching their legs Tuesday before a run along the Halifax boardwalk.
The run was in support of the Terry Fox Foundation to raise money to help cure cancer.
Patrick Sieweke is a crew member aboard the German Frigate Sachsen, now docked in Halifax harbour. The ship will remain in our city until Thursday, when it heads back to European waters.
“I found out about the Terry Fox Foundation on my ship – somebody put a few letters on the wall – and I just really wanted to be a part of it,” he said.
Sieweke chatted with his fellow crew members about how good the seafood is here. “It is a beautiful city,” he said. “The Canadians are very nice to us.”
Despite the cool temperatures, the crew members had large smiles on their faces as they did jumping jacks and other warm ups before the 10 kilometre run.
According to Lt. Alexander Timpf, the Sachsen (Saxony in English) is named after a state in Germany, like other vessels in its class.
It is a state-of-the-art warship for the German Navy, and crew members train “at least once every day, with fire drills and other procedures,” Timpf said.
But they also have time to play table tennis in the hangar decks “as long as there aren’t any helicopters.”
The amount raised at this run has not yet been tabulated, but during their last visit to Halifax the sailors raised $5,000 for the charity.
Overall, the foundation has topped more than $400 million, a number much higher than what Terry Fox had originally hoped for, which was one dollar for every Canadian.
