Tour de Rock still $100k from fundraising goal as ride nears end

With one more day on the bikes to go, Tour de Rock riders are confident they’ll reach their $1-million fundraising goal.

"It's so close we can taste it,” said Johnny Novak, rider and co-host of 107.3 Virgin Mornings.

As of Thursday afternoon, the team was closing in on $900,000 raised for childhood cancer research.

“I am totally confident that Vancouver Island will help this team get to $1 million,” said Steven Robinson, a member of the team’s support crew.

Confident, despite the surging cost of living.

“It makes donors pause for a moment and re-evaluate what they’ve got going on in their lives,” Robinson said.

“Then they refocus their energy on helping kids with cancer and that trumps mortgages and car payments and six percent grocery increases because kids need an army and we step up.”

Riders made well over a dozen stops at schools and business around greater Victoria Thursday.

Oak Bay High School was the first of the day, where students raised more than $25,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.

“Nothing is going to stop us until we raise $1 million,” Novak said.

Whether the team pedals past that goal will be revealed Friday at 4:45 p.m., during the Tour de Rock finale at the B.C. legislature.