Stifling smoke wafting through the region as a result of wildfires in B.C. prompted organizers of the 10th annual Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer to pull the plug on the event.
A little more than 1,800 cyclists were expected to this Saturday ride into town, where a tent city was set up to accommodate them at the Sundre Rodeo Grounds.
But by about noon, organizers made the call to cancel the event, citing health and safety concerns as the reason for the decision.
“It’s heartbreaking for all of us to get the word that after all of the hard work and all of the fundraising that everyone needs to be sent back to Calgary. But everyone’s taking it in stride; everyone’s still in good spirits,” said Zoë Klintberg Nagy, one of three MCs.
“And we appreciate those that are keeping us safe and making sure that we’re not straining our health…The main messaging that we’ve been sending out is that health is the most important thing.”
However, some dedicated cyclists nevertheless arrived in Sundre.
Harold Funk, from Calgary, was among those few. His wife Diane, who works for KPMG and rides under the company’s banner, has previously participated three times, and Harold said this was his second crack at the bat.
A close friend of his, Mike Peters — a spokesperson for last year’s ride — just several weeks ago succumbed following a struggle with cancer, and Harold expressed a desire to stand in solidarity with Peters’ memory and to join a collective effort that supports others who are enduring a similar tribulation.
Everyone was looking forward to completing the ride in two days, but despite the unfortunate turn of events, Harold seemed undaunted and committed to the cause with plans to return.
“If I can, I’ll do it for as long as I can,” he said while chatting in one of numerous nearly empty tents.
Iman Alamin, a friend of Harold’s wife who also works for KPMG, was with him. This was her first time participating in the event, and she had been training and conditioning to physically prepare herself since the spring. Alamin said she completed roughly half of the ride before being picked up and brought in to Sundre.
“It’s disappointing that it’s not on — we wanted to celebrate the day, but it is what it is,” she said, hopeful to eventually be able to return to absorb the full experience.
Compelling her to make the commitment to participate in the physically demanding fundraiser was her own personal experience with cancer.
“We’re all touched by cancer in one way or another. I lost a couple of friends to cancer — they were pretty young,” she said.
Yet even in the face of such loss, she sees reason for optimism in an event like the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
“It was very inspiring to see an event like this being organized to support research for cancer and giving us hope that one day we will beat this disease,” she said.
A media liaison for the Alberta Cancer Foundation also offered some insight on the importance of initiatives like the Ride to Conquer Cancer.
“One in two Albertans will hear the words ‘you have cancer’ in their lifetimes,” said spokesperson Ryan Campbell.
“That’s 42 Albertans every day.”
Funds raised substantially facilitate crucial discoveries that help to develop new treatments, which in turn has in recent decades drastically improved rates of recovery, he said.
“There has been some great clinical trial work done at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton,” he said, adding Calgary’s Tom Baker Cancer Centre also plays an important role.
“We have some absolutely world class researchers in Alberta.”
There are numerous types of cancers — such as, for example, melanoma and testicular — that years ago were essentially death sentences but have now become highly survivable. That success is the result of major advancements made possible by ongoing research efforts, he said.
However, funds support far more than research efforts alone — the millions of dollars raised over the years have also helped provide improved patient care as well as new screening technologies, he said.
Alberta is poised to become the first province in Canada to include in its cancer-fighting repertoire a new PET-MRI in Edmonton that is expected to be installed this year. That imaging technology combines positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) into one imaging system, he said.
Another initiative being facilitated through funding is the acquisition of a device called Mobili-T. More than two-thirds of patients being treated for head or neck cancers will end up struggling to swallow after treatment. Beyond creating difficulty eating, the condition also tends to leave sufferers embarrassed and disinclined from socializing in public, he said.
“That’s another negative in their life that they don’t need on top of a cancer diagnosis.”
The new technology — a square device that sits on the chin — provides digital feedback so medical staff can remotely monitor and offer input to alter the patient’s therapy instead of having the individual physically come in for a checkup, he said.
Looking towards the future, a research study called Alberta’s Tomorrow Project that has been in the works for more than a decade will continue to follow the health of 55,000 people in the province over the span of 50 years, he said, calling the initiative the biggest of its kind in Canada.
“Every year, these people are filling out massive surveys about lifestyles, diet and exercise.”
Over the 50-year period, researchers hope to learn more about what types of behaviour can increase the risk of developing cancers, as well as what lifestyle choices help decrease the risk, he said.
“There have been some amazing breakthroughs over the past 30 years. This study could lead to the next breakthrough.”
The importance of events such as the Ride to Conquer Cancer therefore cannot be overstated, he said.
“The dollars raised are incredible,” he said, adding last year’s event alone raised about $6.7 million with 1,500 cyclists. Since the inaugural ride in 2009, more than $66 million has been raised. This year’s goal was to raise $7 million with as many as 2,000 cyclists. Organizers said Saturday that $8.12 million was raised this year, bringing the provincial 10-year total to more than $74 million.
“All that money stays in the province,” said Campbell.
The event also goes a long way towards raising public awareness as well as building strong bonds between people with shared experiences, he added.
“It gets people talking and brings a very special community of people together. Every person there is riding for a reason. It’s a very emotional weekend — people have developed incredible friendships.”
The two-day trek started as scheduled early on Saturday morning in Calgary at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park. However, organizers were a few hours later starting plans to dismantle the camp after announcing their decision to cancel. At a little more than 100 kilometres from the city, Sundre is ideally situated as a halfway point for the 200-plus kilometre ride, and while still early to tell, officials said the event could possibly return.
Among those who hope for the chance to come back are Michael Landesman. Originally from the U.S., he now lives in Calgary and anticipates receiving Canadian citizenship in September. Helping out as a traffic controller who rides ahead of the cyclists, Landesman said his wife Sally died of breast cancer about a week before her 40th birthday in 2001, and that he has since enthusiastically been involved in dozens of similar endeavours and organizations, such as the Boobs on Bikes, which he volunteers for.
“Pretty much any one of the cancer related events that need traffic control, they know they can make one phone call to us.”
This year would have represented his seventh time participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer. While he sympathized with the feeling of disappointment shared among riders who poured in so much effort over the past months, he also assured participants their efforts were not in vain.
“When you sign up for an event like this, you sign up to raise money and to raise awareness — you’ve done that, that’s what you did for the last six months,” he said, describing the two-day ride as the celebratory recognition of the culmination of all of that work.
“It’s disappointing to take away the celebration, but this event did what it was intended to do — we raised the money, we raised the awareness.”
Having never before had the opportunity to check out Sundre, Landesman said he plans to return once conditions clear up.
“Right now we can’t see much across the street, so hopefully we come back and see how beautiful Sundre is! Looks nice; I’d like to come see it.”
Visit www.conquercancer.ca/index.html for more information on the fundraiser.
