After eight months of training and Fundraising, local police officers and community members are ready to begin an 1,100 km cycling journey for cancer.
The 22nd annual Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock is set to kick off on Saturday morning. The team will start in Port Alice and make its way down to Victoria over two weeks, visiting 29 communities along the way.
The fundraising efforts of the team go towards the Canadian Cancer Society for pediatric cancer research. So far this year the team has already raised $450,000.
ALSO READ: Meet the 2019 Tour de Rock team to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society
Beginning this weekend, more than two dozen riders – mostly members of the RCMP – will begin a 1,100-kilometre bike ride across Vancouver Island as part of the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock, an annual event that raises money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
The 24 tour riders will start their journey on Sept. 21 with a drive up to Port Alice. Between Sept. 22-28 they will travel through and stop in Port Hardy, Woss, Sayward, Campbell River, the Comox Valley, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Port Alberni and Ucluelet. On Sept. 29, after a brief stop in Tofino, the riders will roll into Nanaimo, where they will remain until Sept. 30. The Tour de Rock will conclude on Oct. 4 in Victoria.
Among the 24 riders participating in this year’s Tour de Rock are Cydney MacNeill and Simon Douthwaite of Nanaimo.
Douthwaite said it “means the world” to the team to be able to be part of the event and cycle for the cause and the team members are ready to get going.
“Hopefully it will be sunny when we start; it’s a lot more fun in the sun,” he said. “We’ve been training since March, three days a week and we’ve been training really hard so I think we’re all feeling ready to go. We’re feeling good, physically fit and excited.”
Since the first ride in 1998, the Tour de Rock has raised over $25 million. For more information, or to make a donation you can visit tourderock.ca
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