With two cyclists at a time riding 50 kilometres each from Victoria to Port Hardy, the eight riders covered 1,000 kilometres in 48 hours to raise money for the Island Kids Cancer Association
Eight riders completed the inaugural End2End cycling relay on Thursday, covering 1,000 kilometres in 48 hours and raising more than $110,000 for the Island Kids Cancer Association.
End2End chair Andy Dunstan, a retired police officer who dreamed up the idea for the fundraiser, said more donations are still coming in online.
Riders battled rain and wind, illness and little sleep while pedalling, with two at a time covering 50 kilometres each from Victoria to Port Hardy.
In addition to Dunstan, the team included Trek Bicycle Store owner Bill Fry, Saanich police officer Rob McDonald, CFB Esquimalt firefighter Chris Day, CHEK News reporter Mary Griffin, former Mountie Steve Foster, commercial realtor Erin Glazier and Victoria police detective Kevin Nystedt.
Susan Kerr, founder of Island Kids Cancer Association, greeted the riders on Thursday. The charity she leads allocates money for Island families of kids with cancer that find themselves in financial trouble, due to issues including lost work or travel to Vancouver for medical appointments.
Kerr said she is constantly fielding calls for financial assistance and has already helped hundreds of families on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. “Families should not have to worry about the ability to put food on the table or fuel in their cars when their child has cancer,” she said.
As the End2End cyclists left on their journey, they were presented with friendship bracelets made by children helped by the association.
The team also carried another reminder of why they were riding: the crutches that Kerr’s late son Jacob used before succumbing to cancer at age 19 in 2019. The crutches stayed with the team in a support vehicle throughout the journey.
“Jacob never stopped moving forward,” Kerr wrote in a letter that Dunstan read aloud to the riders and other End2End volunteers just prior to Tuesday’s departure. “These crutches are a testament to his will to keep going, to never give up and to see the light through the darkness.
“He practised with these crutches day after day, even when he was told there was nothing more they could do.”
Money for the End2End fundraiser was collected through donations as well as events ranging from cookie sales in Port McNeill and a barn dance in the Comox Valley to spinathons in Victoria.
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