Cyclists raise money for SickKids Foundation
BY JOAN JANZEN
joanjanzen@yahoo.com
A team from Leader is participating in the Great Cycle Challenge during the month of August, to raise money for the SickKids Foundation, helping kids fight cancer. Laura Henderson, who participated in the event last year, organized the team of local participants.
“I got such a great response locally last year that this year we expanded.” Laura said. “There are eight of us: myself, Mandy Lavallee, Nicole Ausmus, Mark Ehrman and Teresa Kozak, all from Leader, and Theresa Mcmullan and Kim and James Wiebe from Medicine Hat.”
Each team member will pool their kilometers together, to reach the team’s 1,850 kilometre goal. “We’re going to do a lot of our kilometers on our own, but we will be planning to do some social distance group rides,” Laura said.
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This isn’t the first challenge Laura has faced. “I had a brain aneurism in 2016, underwent surgery and ran my first half marathon seven months later. I’ve been setting goals ever since,” Laura said. “So this challenge is a perfect fit for me.”
Although Marie Stimson isn’t part of the team, she is no stranger to Leader, having grown up and raised a family in Leader. She also frequently comes to Leader to visit family. The Regina resident will also be doing the challenge throughout the month of August at her own pace.
That’s the beauty of this particular challenge; participants set their own personal ride target during the month of August, log their kilometres and track their progress online through their personal challenge page. An app allows participants to easily record their kilometres and automatically adds each ride straight onto their rider profile page, including the kilometres ridden, date and journey. The Great Cycle Challenge is suitable for all fitness levels and all ages, and registration is free.
“I don’t anticipate having trouble meeting my goal of 200 kilometres,” Marie said. “I’m back on my bike and I just need to prove to myself that I can reach my goal,” she concluded, noting that there’s about 3,000 people in Saskatchewan who are participating in this challenge.
If people want to donate, they can go on the Great Cycle Challenge website and look for the team or name of a participant, and donate individually or as a team.
”All my team members are fantastic people,” Laura Henderson said. “Hopefully we can change little lives and make a difference.”