Mid-Island towns raise almost $30K for Tour de Rock, cancer research

The Canadian Cancer Society's Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock team arrived in Ladysmith on Monday to a hero's welcome.

The town's Tim Hortons greeted riders with a cheque for more than $7,000, which will go towards cancer research and children battling cancer.

In total, people living and working in and around Ladysmith and Chemainus raised more than $28,000 for the cause this year.

The Tour de Rock team peddled around the two communities on Monday. Along the way, the alumni riders also spent time with the mother of a junior rider who died of cancer in 2010.

"This team always supports me, and I always support them, because it helps keep all the children alive that are flying with these guys on their wings right now," said Tammy Dougan.

The riders say that junior riders and children battling cancer are one of the main reasons why they take on the challenging bicycle tour.

"The junior riders are what we hold in our heart," said David Giles, a Nanaimo RCMP alumni rider.

"Living or not, they are the ones who keep up us going, they're the ones that move us, they're the ones that keep us going when it's cold and it's raining and it's wet," he said. "We don't care because we're doing it for them, 100 per cent."

Donations for this year's Tour de Rock fundraiser can be made here.