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Courtenay man rides Great Divide to fund cancer research

Courtenay native Robert Trainor sets out Saturday, Aug. 20 from Roosville, B.C. to ride his mountain bike from Canada to Mexico along the Great Divide.
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Courtenay native Robert Trainor sets out Saturday, Aug. 20 from Roosville, B.C. to ride his mountain bike from Canada to Mexico along the Great Divide.

In truth, he will cross the divide some 25 times while covering a distance of 4,000 kilometres and climbing 175,000 feet — the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest six times. He hopes to cover the distance in 21 days, averaging 200kms a day and finishing at the Mexican border at Antelope Wells, N.M. En route, he will pass through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The model of his bike — Cutthroat — is the state fish of each of these states.

Trainor is no stranger to long distance riding or fundraising. Over the past seven years he has raised approximately $150,000 for cancer research. He has never diverted a single penny of funds to cover overhead, choosing instead to cover all event costs out of his own pocket.

“This allows the donations to go directly to where they are needed most,” he said. “I think it speaks to people. We have all lost loved ones to this disease and it’s a quickly changing landscape. New cures and treatments are being discovered every year, but we need to fund this valuable lifesaving research. We can beat this disease.”

In 2014, Trainor was introduced to a private cancer fundraiser where 175 cyclists rode 400kms in one day from Kelowna to Vancouver. Participants were required to pay an entry fee to cover costs, and to raise at least $2,500 each for cancer research. It was in this event, which at the time was the largest independent cancer fundraiser in Canada, that Trainor got started. When Ride2Survive wrapped up in 2019 and the COVID pandemic started the year after, all fundraisers were cancelled, leaving a large funding gap for many charities. In 2020 and in 2021, Trainor organized his own events and raised about $30,000 in those two years for cancer research funding.

He is sitting at more than $54,000 raised. His goal is $100,000. If interested in supporting his campaign, or want to follow his journey, visit www.ride4life.ca. He will be posting daily updates.

Online donors are taken directly to the Canadian Cancer Society website when they click on the donate button. All donations exceeding $20 will be sent a tax receipt.