Eleven Niagara cyclists are pedaling with their hearts on their sleeves as
they make their way around Lake Ontario in seven days.
The group set off from St. Catharines early Sunday morning for the
940-kilometre ride to raise funds for the new Heart Investigation Unit at St.
Catharines hospital.
“It’s a commitment,” said Dan Toppari, chair of Tour Du Lac Committee earlier
in the week. “It’s a week of bicycling and that means a week away from home and
work. It also means you have to be in relatively good shape to do the ride, so
that takes some training.”
The event is part of an overall fundraising project to raise $750,000 for the
Heart Investigation Unit that the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South, The May
Court Club of St. Catharines and Performance Cars undertook about seven years
ago, he said.
Tour Du Lac raised $60,000 for the heart unit in the event’s first two years.
Toppari said this year’s ride is expected to raise another $20,000.
“This Tour du Lac is the final piece of the fundraising towards the total
$750,000 goal,” said Toppari, a member of the Rotary Club and a St. Catharines
lawyer.
“This is just going to top us up quite nicely.”
Riders are from across Niagara and a few have had heart issues. Some, like
Toppari, are “scenery” bike riders while he said others go full speed.
“Some of my relatives have died at a young age with cardiac issues so it sort
of hit home for me to do this for the heart investigative unit,” he said.
Each rider pays $375 to help cover the costs and corporate sponsors help out.
Riders also receive individual pledges, boosting the fundraising.
It’s the last year riders will fundraise for the heart unit since the goal
has been met. But Toppari said since so much work has gone into organizing the
event, it’s tempting to continue a similar ride for another fundraising
project.
The riders made their way from the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club at
7:30 a.m. Sunday and will arrive back in St. Catharines on July 13. Along the
way, they’ll be stopping in Toronto, Cobourg, Kingston and in New York in
Oswego, Webster and Lockport.
karena.walter@sunmedia.ca
