by Kyle Wells reporter@prpeak.com RCMP and other enforcement and emergency service personnel from throughout the coast are taking to two wheels to bike in the annual Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast fundraiser for Canadian Cancer Society.
A total of 29 riders and 14 support crew coasted down Barnet Street to Powell River RCMP detachment around noon on Friday, September 23 for their stop on the upper Sunshine Coast. The day before, the participants rode 115 kilometres over the hills and valleys of the lower Sunshine Coast and were preparing the next day to ride to Lund and back before catching the ferry.
Rides take place throughout the province to raise money for pediatric cancer research and programs for children with cancer. Children with cancer, or who are cancer survivors, are also included in the campaign as members of the Junior Team. As the largest contributor to pediatric cancer research, the tours raised $2.4 million for research in 2010 alone.
Taking part in the ride are RCMP from throughout the area, along with paramedics, border services officers and municipal police from different areas of the Lower Mainland.
Constable Tim Kenning is the lone Powell River participant in the ride. Kenning is a hobby mountain and road biker anyway but said he certainly had to do some training to prepare himself for the demands of this trip. He said it has been a joy to spend time with all the other participants and to raise money for a good cause.
“This trip has a very positive atmosphere, everybody’s out there for the kids,” said Kenning, “doing something not just for yourself, doing it for the greater good.”
Friday night also saw the participants attending a spaghetti dinner fundraiser complete with silent auction, 50/50 draw and some head shaving, the proceeds from all of which went directly to the society.
Riders head up through Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton and then back down to Burnaby, Maple Ridge and other stops in the Lower Mainland, before finishing in greater Vancouver on Thursday, September 29. The ride is nine days in total, averaging about 100 kilometres per day.
