Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock wraps up after 12 days of touring the Island
Friday was the last day of the 2021 Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock ride, and the alumni riders peddled their way through the capital region.
On the field at Oak Bay High School, they received an overwhelming welcome.
“It’s incredible,” said CTV’s Scott Cunningham, a 2019 alumni rider. “I’m so happy to be invited back.”
Cunningham is back for the final day of the alumni ride during this prolonged pandemic.
“COVID didn’t stop cancer and that’s why the tour continues,” said Cunningham.
The support for the tour has continued as well.
“We raised $37,000,” said Coleen, who is a fundraiser and student at Oak Bay High School.
The schools efforts yielded $37,748, to be exact, all raised in just three and half weeks.
Next, it was off to Reynolds Secondary School in Saanich.
When the team arrived at the school, the principal couldn’t give them a fundraising total as the money was still rolling in. In the end, Reynolds narrowly surpassed Oak Bay’s total, with $38,338.
One of the tour’s last stops before the grand finale at The Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney was at the Bottle Depot - Return It Centre in Saanich. Through its dedicated charity bins, the centre raised nearly $27,000.
“(That) represents 268,827 returnable beverage containers,” said Adam Boswick, the centre’s chief operating officer.
All the money raised goes towards the fight against pediatric cancer or helps send children going through cancer treatment to Camp Goodtimes.
2016 alumni rider Mena Westhaver’s son Jack was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2009. Her whole family had the opportunity to participate in the family camp program at Camp Goodtimes.
“I can’t even put enough words to it,” said Westhaver. “It’s a safe place where parents don’t have to worry about their children who are going through very invasive, high-risk treatment.”
“It’s just magical,” Westhaver added.
“We need to keep the magic alive until we can get back to a normal year,” said Mike Gonzalez, part of the Tour de Rock support team and digital media lead.
Due to the pandemic, this year’s tour was scaled back. Alumni riders would come back to ride the leg of the tour that went through their home communities, with each rider generally participating in just one day.
Gonzalez is on the support team and has been on this year’s tour for its entire 1,100-kilometre length. He says the wonder of the Tour de Rock can’t be found on a bike. It’s found in the small communities up and down the island that come out every year and show their support.
“The magic of Tour de Rock is in communities (like) Comox, where Molly, who is 9 years old, shaved her head in front of the entire student body,” said Gonzalez. “They cheered her name for 30 minutes as she shaved her head.”
The tour is really about communities coming together, big or small, with the common goal of raising money to fight a disease that has not yet been beaten.
Next year’s ride will be the 25th edition of the annual event, which has raised nearly $30 million since it began.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
What happens after we die? Most Canadians say an afterlife does exist, survey shows
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.