The 2nd Annual Ride for the Future fundraiser wrapped up this weekend with a joyous celebration to welcome the riders in at the historic Terry Fox Mile Zero monument in beacon Hill Park, Victoria.
The R4TF vision is to raise awareness about childhood obesity and chronic disease while empowering communities with the education, tools, confidence, and motivation to do their part towards supporting the health of our youngest citizens. Again this year, the Ride has garnered a great deal of support from the Innovative Fitness Victoria members and staff, while also engaging supporters from the community, most notably their local sponsors – Innovative Fitness, Shine Cafe, MD Esthetics, and Rumble Supershake. Support for the Ride was open to anyone with a willingness to contribute to something bigger than themselves.
Encountering many challenges along the way, such as sponsors backing out or heavy rain warnings on ride day, Ryley and team remained positive and focused on the R4TF vision. With upwards of $7000 raised and a time-challenge donation from an anonymous donor, any adversity the team may have encountered was overcome with the united push to achieve their goals with No Excuses – an Innovative Fitness motto that Ryley exemplifies each day.
Riley and co-rider Anika left Port Hardy at 1 pm on June 18th, racing down the island at a fierce pace and maintaining their pursuit through the night, where they encountered 10 hours straight of heavy rainfall. Eventually, Anika made the difficult decision to pull out of the ride so that Ryley could meet the goal of arriving in under 24 hours. Ryley pushed forwards, engaging all of his mental toughness for the journey ahead, now solo. With the support van always close by, Ryley focused on the many team and community members that supported him along this journey and were eagerly awaiting his arrival. Ryley also knew he would be riding the last 30km with a team of community supporters so that they could ride the final leg in solidarity. The team of riders rolled into the park at 11am on June 19th to mark an official time of 22 hours from start to finish of the 500km journey.
Not that the first stage of this journey is complete, and the bar has been set for what we can achieve if we put our full effort forwards, everyone that has been involved up to now is preparing to deliver on the impact that underpins the core values of the Ride. It is important to note that, while the Ride was initialized by Ryley, it was never about an individual effort. It was about seeing a need, mobilizing a team, empowering a community, and having an impact bigger than ourselves. Ryley gave the Ride a heartbeat, the community of supporters gave it the muscles to move forward.
Empowering communities to support the health of every child is no easy feat. To build on the great work already being realized in Victoria, here is our main task list:
Ryley set a goal of having at least 5 more schools in SD 61 taking part in the 60 Minute Kids Club Healthy Habits challenge before the end of 2016. Quadra elementary took part in the Spring challenge, so we will be engaging with more schools to build on that momentum for the upcoming October challenge.
We will also be visiting schools across the city to share the story of the Ride with elementary students to teach them about setting and reaching goals, facing adversity, reaching for impact bigger than themselves, and many more valuable life lessons that this Ride symbolizes.
We will be working with local delivery partners to ensure all students are receiving valuable and quality instruction when it comes to the physical activity opportunities they are exposed to. Whether through physical education at school, recreation programs after school, sport programs on the weekends, or playing with the family any time, we will be working to empower the delivery agents at all of these opportunities with the confidence and competence to deliver high quality and positive programs and teachings that will set the foundation for each child to build upon their physical literacy journey.
Innovative Fitness Victoria, The Sport for Life Society, and 60 Minute Kids Club will be reaching out to anyone in the community wanting to get involved and build a network of community partners uniting our efforts for this cause. If you would like to get involved, have Ryley speak to your group of kids, or want to learn more about any of the stories or impact, contact Elisa at .
Chek News – Video Segment – http://www.cheknews.ca/marathon-bike-ride-raises-awareness-child-obesity-189598
Elisa Maruzzo | Western Canada Manager
60 Minute Kids’ Club (60MKC)
P: 604-537-5161 | E:
www.60MinKidsClub.org
