A surge of cyclists that was expected to ride into Sundre this weekend in support of a good cause had to be cancelled due to health concerns.
The 10th annual Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer was going to come through town for the first time ever, drawing along with it almost two thousand participants, including cancer survivors as well as supporters.
While everything started out as planned early on Saturday morning in Calgary with the opening ceremonies at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park, the plug was officially pulled at about noon because of the health risk posed by smoky conditions.
Even so, several dedicated cyclists nevertheless arrived in Sundre, where a camping area with big white tents was established at the Sundre Rodeo Grounds. Unfortunately, the rest — many were in Cremona for the lunch pit stop at the time — were eventually brought back to Calgary and the camp remained largely empty.
Despite the disappointment, organizers, volunteers and participants still praised the successful effort to raise awareness and funds — more than $8 million this year.
The overall more than 200-kilometre trek through Alberta’s scenic countryside is the province’s largest cycling fundraiser, according to the organization, which raises funds in support of the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
“Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Canada and is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths,” reads a press release.
“It was estimated that in 2017, over 18,600 new cancer cases were diagnosed in Alberta.”
Unfortunately, in the post truth era of alternative facts, many people seem suspicious of such endeavours and dismiss them as scams that serve to pad the pockets of administrative and executive staff.
In reality, that perception could not be much farther from the truth.
Over the past few decades, advancements have yielded new treatments and substantially improved the odds of survival for several types of cancers — the kind that claimed the life of Terry Fox, once an all-but-guaranteed death sentence, now has extremely high recovery rates without resorting to drastic measures such as amputations. Of course some forms of the disease nevertheless remain deadly — especially when discovered too late. That means providing comfortable end-of-life care alongside state-of-the-art facilities should be a big focus.
“Funds raised through Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer enable the Alberta Cancer Foundation to support breakthrough cancer research, clinical trials, enhanced care and the discovery of new cancer therapies at centers across the province.”
These ongoing efforts should not be downplayed. Progress does not happen overnight or even as fast as we all would like, but there has unquestionably been many breakthroughs giving millions of people hope that simply did not exist in Fox’s day.
Considering the leaps and bounds that have been achieved in about 30 years, one can only wonder how much farther ahead we’ll be in the next half century — especially with the continued support of fundraisers such as the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
