Ottawa Hospital invites you to Ride the Rideau.
Ride the Rideau founders Claude Des Rosiers, left, and Robert Merkley are all smiles after receiving their bike helmets and sunglasses from the Ottawa Hospital Foundation as a thank you for spearheading the upcoming Sept. 11 event.
Daniel Nugent-Bowman
Five years ago, Robert Merkley witnessed
the cruelty of cancer first hand.
The president of Merkley Supply, an Ottawa building materials
supplier, lost his beloved friend and cousin Catherine Lalonde to a wicked bout
with the disease.
“She came home one day and she found a lump
and she had four cancers,” he recalled. “She almost beat the four cancers but
there was an undetected brain tumour that took her down.”
Of course, Lalonde wasn’t the only person Merkley
knew who had had to fight cancer either.
So, thanks in large part to Merkley’s
guidance, the Ottawa Hospital Foundation launched its inaugural Ride the Rideau
event on April 29.
The event will feature a 100-kilometre bike
ride from Lansdowne Park to Merrickville-Wolford on Sept. 11 in the hopes
of raising money for the construction of a floor for cancer research at the Ottawa Hospital.
“I think it’s going to be a phenomenal
event, that every year, will help the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. We
all know someone who’s been devastated and also lost their life because of
cancer,” Merkley said, while adding that currently, one-in-three people will be
affected by cancer in their lifetimes.
“It’s something that’s near and dear to
everyone.”
Merkley’s main responsibility in the Ride
the Rideau event is to encourage at least 20 companies to sign up in corporate
challenges.
The hope is that 500 riders in total will
participate, pledging $1,500 each.
“It’s doable for most people so it’s inclusive,”
Ottawa Hospital president and C.E.O. Jack Kitts
said. “But most important as a fundraiser it is another way that the community
can support the cancer research at the Ottawa Hospital.”
Kitts wasn’t the only excited person at the
announcement either.
He was flanked by a dozen-odd researchers
who, along with Merrickville-Wolford Mayor Doug Struthers, unveiled the logo
for the fundraiser.
“It’s huge because the money is never
secure where we’re always fighting for it,” researcher and University of Ottawa
cancer pathology Masters student Anna O’Brien said. “To know that there are
people in the community that are helping with this really feels good.”
As an “avid cyclist” who is an elite
national level mountain biker and road cyclist, O’Brien isn’t participating in
the Ride the Rideau for the added exercise.
“I think it’s really important for at least
one of us to be involved and to really show our support for the organizers who
are doing this to support our research,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to getting involved. It’s
not going to have that race appeal so it’s going to be pretty easy going,
enjoyable event.”
Having completed a more torturous
220-kilometre ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls last year,
Merkley doesn’t think the Ride the Rideau tour will be as challenging
physically either – especially with his cousin’s memory inspiring him as he
begins his training soon.
“Anyone who rides in these events, they’re
inspired by someone,” the 55-year-old said. “It’s not very difficult with
cancer because it hits so many of us.
“I think what we’re seeing at the Ottawa
Hospital Research Institute is we’re going to see massive cures for cancer and
hopefully in five to 10 years the word ‘cancer’ won’t be such a bad word and we
won’t see much of it.”
daniel.bowman@metroland.com