Tour de Cure will be back in August and Hope local Cathy Harry is once again hosting a mega-match fundraising barbecue with Kal Tire to help raise money for cancer research.
Taking place this Saturday (July 13), at 21259 Kettle Valley Place, Kal Tire will be matching donations of up to $10,000 — the amount that Harry’s team, OITSA, needs to raise this year in order to participate in Tour de Cure. These proceeds will go towards the BC Cancer Foundation for life-saving research and enhancements in B.C.
“This will be our 7th ride for team OITSA and we have raised almost $50,000 in these past six years,” Harry said via email. She is the manager at Kal Tire. “At 63 the toughest part of the ride is the hills. But this challenge is nothing compared to what people with cancer deal with day after day.
“We have been very successful in the past with having a block party, with hamburgers, hot dogs, raffle, silent auction and Tonnie toss, and we will continue this year with the same theme. This is a great event which we include our team from Kal Tire Hope, family and friends and as many people as we can get to come enjoy the party.
Harry, along with the other three members of her team, will once again be embarking on a daunting journey, on Aug. 24 to Aug. 25, from Cloverdale to Hope. Normally just riding with her son-in-law, Yan Chouinard, this year the team is joined by Harry’s son and future daughter-in-law who will be participating with thousands of other riders, volunteers, and supporters gathering to continue the fight against cancer.
Like the year before, the 200 km ride intends to end in Memorial Park, with cyclists riding through Wallace Street; unfortunately, in 2023, Tour de Cure cyclists had to make a U-turn back to Chilliwack, at Seabird Island First Nation, due to poor air quality from wildfires.
Harry and Chouinard first joined as riders in 2015 after Harry came across an advertisement for the fundraiser on TV. Wanting to support cancer research and honour all her friends who’d passed away from the disease, Harry got her bike and began training for the very long journey which, back then, ended in Seattle. Chouinard, who was concerned about his mother-in-law riding by herself, offered to join Harry as her cycling partner — which he has committed to doing each year she participates.
Together the two have cycled in 2015 to Seattle, 2017 to Seattle, 2018 to Chilliwack (due to the wildfires preventing them from reaching Hope), 2019 from Cloverdale to Hope, 2021 from Hope to Harrison (due to COVID-19, they were responsible for their own bike rides, and took detours through the farms and back to Hope), and 2023 to Chilliwack.
“We ride for our kids and grandchildren, to live a cancer free life,” Harry said. “Plus, also to support a possible cure for my niece that is battling Stage 4 Lung Cancer at the young age of 43.”
For more information, readers can contact Harry at 604-869-1618.
