August 20/07 4:18 am - Cypress Challenge Draws Tops Cyclists for Cancer Cause

Posted by Editoress on 08/20/07
 

Cypress Challenge Draws Tops Cyclists for Cancer Cause
Courtesy Allan Prazsky

Over 80 cyclists of all ages and abilities took part in August 18th's Cypress Challenge, an inaugural cancer fundraising ride that was the vision of three dedicated individuals. The Challenge event brought together top regional teams, including Escape Velocity, Masi-Adobe, Rocky Mountain, Trek Red Truck, TNA, Le Peloton and Canada's number-one ranked pro Team, Symmetrics, whose Will Routley stole the show with a climb from Cypress Mountain's Service Yard to Hollyburn's Cross-Country area - an unrelenting 12km route, marked by its steady 5.7% pitch - in just over 30 minutes! Teammate to Routley, herself no stranger to the top step of the podium, was Leah Goldstein, capturing the fastest female time of the day, at just over 35 minutes.

"I am massively impressed by the support the cycling community has shown today," beamed North Vancouver's Dave MacDonald, co-organizer of the Cypress Challenge, together with Dan Scholten and Allan Prazsky. MacDonald, clearly happy with the efforts of the event, continued, "Our gauge for success was 30 riders and a few hundred dollars! We knew it was going to be a special event when cycling aficionados from Le Peloton (a local cycling club made up of middle-aged businessmen) signed-on for the event together with top pro's like Andrew Pinfold, Will Routley (Symmetrics) and double Gold World Masters Games Medalist, Larry Zimich and his World Champion (Masters) wife, Barb. They just kept coming! The road started to fill, and I thought, wow, all this through a simple mode of publicity - serious email spam, and a few posters! Just think what more time and a better marketing campaign could do to raise money next year!"

Close to $2,000 was raised on Saturday, with 100% of the Cypress Challenge entries being contributed to the Tour of Courage. Together, the three Cypress Challenge organizers have raised in excess of $6,000. Cycling enthusiasts wishing to contribute to cancer research can do so directly online, by clicking on www.tourofcourage.com.

The organizers of the Cypress Challenge would like to thank the cycling community, and to the sponsors that kindly donated prizing for the event, including Aritzia, TNA, Northface, Adidas, Pez Cycling News, PowerBar, Broadway Dental, ATAC Sportswear, Royce Shoes, 66North, Kicking Horse Coffee and Broadway Roofing.