Fifty-three motorcyclists gunned out of the Gasoline Alley Harley-Davidson outlet Thursday morning to kick off a four-day trip westward in support of the Kids with Cancer Society.
This marks the 7th annual Revving up for Kids Motorcycle Adventure, spearheaded by LOOK Homes and Stepper Custom Homes out of Calgary.
Revving up for Kids is a ride that sees bikers join together to support children with cancer as well as their families. It has raised over $1 million since it began in 2006.
“I think everyone here feels very strongly that two words you should never hear in the same sentence are ‘child,’ and ‘cancer,’” said Sue Neufeld of Red Deer’s True-Line Contracting and a committee member of the annual motorcycle ride.
“It’s a terrible enough disease for an adult to go through.”
Each biker has a teddy bear strapped onto the back of their motorcycle.
The bears belong to specific children with cancer and are carried in honour of them.
The group will ride to Kicking Horse, B.C. for Sunday where there will be evening entertainment, prizes and activities. Stops along the way include Canmore and Fernie, B.C.
According to Val Figliuzzi, the Kids with Cancer Society’s executive director, this year’s motorcycle adventure has raised over $180,000. That figure is expected to rise and online donations were still pouring in, she said.
Another key component of the ride that encourages the bikers to keep going, rain or shine, is the family from the Kids with Cancer Society that joins the motorcycle adventure in the caravan.
This year seven-year-old Ruby Hannigan and her mother Sarah of Edmonton will be joining the bikers.
Ruby was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May of 2011 and underwent chemotherapy and numerous major surgeries including a bone marrow biopsy.
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com