After her recent participation in a fundraiser that combined cycling with a good cause, Kelly Hodgins can quite literally call herself a spokesperson. The 19-year-old Powell River resident rode in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, a mass cycling event benefiting BC Cancer Foundation.
This year’s ride took place mid-June and saw over 2,800 cyclists from around the province embark on a two-day journey through the Pacific Northwest. The route stretched 250 kilometres from Vancouver to Seattle, leading riders through everything from urban centres to rolling farmlands.
Hodgins said she was inspired to participate after seeing the BC Bike Race come through Powell River last year and being “blown away” by the event’s energy and magnitude. Through her summer job as a visitor information counsellor for Tourism Powell River, Hodgins happened to be working in an outreach program on the ferry the morning the riders came over.
“I saw how incredible it was when everyone was riding together in this big mass of hundreds of people,” she said. “And they were all sharing stories. I really wanted to be involved in something like that.”
However, seven days over root-filled trails seemed a little too taxing for her trusty old mountain bike and herself, so she began searching for a similar event that was more ride than race. The conquer cancer ride was a perfect fit.
A big bonus was its fundraising aspect. She raised most of her money through events, favouring that approach over pledge requests. “I did a burger and beer night at the Shinglemill [Pub and Bistro] and a trivia night at Breakwater Books, which was a huge success,” she said, adding that she repeated the same two events in Abbotsford where she currently attends university. “Getting donations and organizing silent auctions was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it,” she said.
Hodgins raised around $2,650, exceeding the $2,500 minimum for each participant. In total, cyclists raised $11.1 million, making the ride the “most successful cancer-related fundraising event in BC history,” according to a press release on the event’s website.
Hodgins heard the total while at the starting line just minutes before the ride began. “We were all standing there in the rain kind of miserable, preparing ourselves for this rainy, cold weekend,” she said. “And they were like, ‘Good for you guys. Do you know how much money you raised?’ We were just so pumped up.”
As excitement burst from the riders, so did rain from the clouds overhead. “It was unbelievably wet and cold. The second day was even colder than the first day.” And while her clothing and equipment may have been dampened, Hodgins’ spirits weren’t. “The weather doesn’t even play into my overall impression of the weekend,” she said. “My overall impression was just that it was inspiring and unreal and remarkable and just fantastic.”
Hodgins was moved and inspired by the positive attitudes of participants she met along the way, everyone from grieving parents to stubborn survivors. “It was kind of cool to do it on my own because I just met so many people by cycling up beside them and making small talk.”
Hodgins urges others to participate in future rides, wholeheartedly recommending the event to cyclists of all ability levels. “We had people there with their fancy multi-thousand-dollar bikes and their racing gear all kitted out, but then we also had me on my regular old mountain bike just plugging along. Everyone can do it and everyone should do it.”
For more information, interested readers can visit the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer website.
