Following months of preparation and fundraising, local charity cycling squad Randy's Riders traveled down to Calgary earlier this month to participate in the seventh annual Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer.
For the third consecutive year, the group of local bikers came together to commemorate longtime Cold Laker Randy Imrie, who tragically lost his battle with cancer in 2012, raising a whopping $85,355 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation in the process.
Speaking to the Regional last week, Randy's Riders team captain Darrell MacDonald said he was blown away once again by the “incredible support” of the local community.
“Each year we've been doing this, our (fundraising) numbers have just been going up and up and up,” MacDonald said. “For a small town, community-based team, we do so incredibly well year after year. The (numbers) we're putting up again for this year's ride is just incredible. The community, as it has shown so many times in the past, has stepped up in a big way and we're so appreciative of the incredible support we've had once again.”
Since starting out back in 2013, Randy's Riders has raked in just over $200,000 to support cancer research in the province. While the group, which started with just seven members, initially embarked on this annual journey without too many expectations, MacDonald said the response of the community, this year especially, has helped put this “incredibly worthy” cause on the map.
“This thing all started out with a phone call,” MacDonald says looking back at the beginnings of the group. “(Randy) was my best friend and after he passed away, his wife Sherri called and told me she wanted to go on this cancer ride.”
He added, “So I went out and brought in a few other people that were close to (Randy) and we signed up. We started out really small, but things have snowballed over the past couple of years to the point that we are where we're at today.”
After raising $43,000 in 2013 and $73,000 last year, their haul of $85,000 in 2015 once again sees Randy's Riders jump into the top 20 for team donations, with three individuals from the 19-person squad placing amongst the top 30 fundraisers in Alberta.
“We really did have some incredible fundraising from a few individuals this year,” MacDonald said. “We had Paul Odell, Mahmoud Elkadri and Don Urlacher doing some pretty incredible things to help us reach, and then exceed our goals. Coming into the ride this year, we didn't think we'd be able to beat last year's total, but we changed our formula, did a few things differently and it turned out really well.”
Aiming for a grand total of $58,400, Randy's Riders blew that total out of the water, thanks in large part to the attention Odell placed on the group when he became the first man to successfully swim across Cold Lake on August 1.
“We're definitely starting to get our name out there a little more now. I think Paul deciding to swim across the lake, that really put Randy's Riders on the map,” MacDonald said. “It made people sit up and take notice. As soon as he completed the swim, the money started to come in so quickly. It was incredible.”
In the 24 hours leading up to and immediately following the race, Randy's Riders received just over $11,000 in donations, something MacDonald believes is a testament to the continued generosity of this community.
“It's just a great, great feeling to be a part of something like this,” he added.
Less than a week removed from the 240-kilometre round trip ride, MacDonald said that while the grueling journey didn't come without its fair share of aches and pains, he carried with him a special memento to help him through the ride.
“Every time someone asks me how hard it is to complete the ride, I tell them about this picture I have of (Randy) when he had his cancer,” MacDonald said. “His body changed physically and when I look back at the pain he went through, I just think to myself ‘the pain from this ride is nothing compared to that'.”
He added, “That's my motivation, is my friend having suffered through cancer. That's the underlying motivation for everybody… (all those involved with) Randy's Riders has been affected in someway by cancer. The big statistic is that every day in Alberta 43 people are told they have cancer and what each and every one of those individuals has to go through is similar to what (Randy) had to go through.”
This year's Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer raked in a massive $7.8 million for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Although this year's ride is now over, MacDonald said the local group is already looking forward to next year.
“I'm expecting we'll have around 30 bodies on board for next year's ride… When we were out there this year, there were riders asking to join up with us in the future, it's awesome,” MacDonald said. “We're such an easy group of people to ride with. If anyone wants to join or get involved, there's no membership fee, you just come out.”
He added, “We're all already looking forward to it. If we get anywhere near the response we've had over the past three years, next year will be another huge success.”
