Members ride to Conquer Cancer
Two founding BikeBridge members will participate in the 2011 Rider to Conquer Cancer
Jake Willms – Alberta Ride to Conquer Cancer (June 25, 26)
Stu Walker – BC Ride to Conquer Cancer (June 18, 19)
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Jake Willms Ride contribute….. … contact
The past two years Jake Willms participated as a rider in the 2009 and 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer. A co-worker, whose office is two doors down the hall, also signed up as a rider in 2010. Jake’s oldest daughter was one of the volunteer nurses at the medical tent at the rest stops in High River and Longview and at the overnight Camp at Chain Lakes Provincial Park.
Jake signed up again as a rider for this year’s 2011 Ride to Conquer Cancer. His nephew, Andrew Wall and his niece Ainsley’s husband, Spencer Croil, have signed up as well. The bike ride involves a 200 km ride over two days on June 25 and 26, 2011 along the majestic Rocky Mountains. Each participant is expected to raise a minimum of $2500 in donations for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
What is the motivation to do this ride? Jake says “This is my third year as a prostate cancer survivor and I am a beneficiary of all the past fund raising and cancer research. Participating in this fund raising event gives me the opportunity to show my appreciation and gratitude, and to give back something in return. I hope the funds raised will aid in innovative research to find new ways for early diagnosis of cancer and new cancer treatments.
In December 2010 I met a medical oncologist who does research with chemo therapy. He said our donations to the Ride to Conquer Cancer help fund his research work and he is very grateful for this. He too is a rider”
If you would like to support Jake Willms in his fund raising you can make a donation on-line at his website or you can print off a donation form and mail it in with a cheque. All donations over $10.00 will be issued a tax receipt.
Stuart Walker Ride contribute ………. contact ………. Facebook ….. F
The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a powerful movement of hope, healing, celebration and optimism where thousands of cyclists join together to raise funds and awareness in order to conquer cancer. The 2011 Ride (BC) is a bicycle ride from Vancouver (Surrey) to Seattle (Redmond WA) over June 18 and 19. On my trusty Bike Friday folding touring bike, I’ll be joining 2,500 other riders and a huge number of volunteers to bike the 250 plus kilometer route. Each participating rider must raise $2,500 to quality but is encouraged to set a funding goal beyond that. My contributions fundraising goal is $3,000.
I began training for the ride in December. With the mostly snowy and windy weather my training has been confined to the indoor bike trainer, 5 days each week for an hour a day. As June approaches and with a bit of spring, I’ll be riding progressively longer and further each week until I am doing at least two 100 km rides a week by the first of June.
Why am I Riding? We are all familiar with the “six degrees of separation”. It’s the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. But with cancer it’s more like two degrees of separation: everyone knows someone who has either beaten cancer, is in the battle of their lives right now, or fought the good fight but lost. We all have colleagues, friends and family for whom cancer is, or was, the focus of their lives–ever present, always there.
Funds from The Ride to Conquer Cancer support ground-breaking cancer research at the BC Cancer Agency, focused on advancing new understanding of cancer with the goal of developing new therapies to extend and save more lives. Of course any breakthroughs from cancer research benefit us all, whether they are through research done in BC, Alberta or anywhere around the world.
Note: If you, as a member, are also participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, or a similar bicycle related fund raising event, please let BikeBridge know and we will post your information and a link to your site here.
