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Inside Riders to go the distance in Cloverdale

Teams of six and volunteers needed for this year's Inside Ride, a fundraiser to ease financial burden on parents of kids with cancer.
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Team Surrey Memorial Hospital at last year's Inside Ride at the Cloverdale Recreation Centre

On Thursday evening, the Cloverdale Rec Centre will be filled with colourfully-costumed riders spinning their hearts out as the tunes blast.

Billed as an indoor cycling celebration and fundraising event, the Inside Ride on Oct. 24 will be raising money in support of children, teens and their families living with and beyond cancer.

Teams of six are encouraged to register for the ride, dress up in costumes, and have fun. Each rider takes a 10 minute spin on a stationary bike, and the event lasts less than a couple of hours.

There are prizes for best costumes, most enthusiasm and the most kilometres pedaled.

“Oh my god it is so fun! The costumes are great,” says Cloverdale’s Dave Dunbar, one of the organizers and a director with the British Columbia Childhood Cancer Parents Association, a non-profit, registered charity that is once again the beneficiary of the third annual Vancouver Inside Ride.

“The costumes will be amazing because it’s only a week away from Halloween,” he notes.

The bikes are supplied by Coast to Coast Against Cancer, an organization that travels across Canada in support of children and families with cancer.

Volunteers are also needed to help out.

All proceeds – 100 per cent – of the money raised at the event goes to the BCCCPA, an organization that helps those families who are struggling by providing financial aid.

The Inside Ride represents one of its most important fundraising initiatives of the year for the group, raising $68,000 last year, representing a significant portion of the approximately $150,000 the BCCCPA raised overall, with 92 per cent of those funds going directly into the hands of families with a child with cancer and who are having difficulty with finances as a result.

“We’re actually trying to build and build on this,” says Dunbar, who adds the Inside Ride is perfect for corporate teams.

Then there’s the time requirement – just a couple of hours, making it an ideal fundraiser for grassroots organizations like the BCCCPA and community participants.http://raven.b-it.ca/portals/uploads/cloverdale/.DIR288/wInsideRide-TimmiesYaYasTeampic.jpg

[Team Timmies Ya Yas, left, took part last year.]

One of the teams taking part again is Quin’s Angels, comprised of the Quin family, who happen to be friends of the Dunbars. They knew their son, Quinn, who passed away on New Years Eve in 2008. He would be 17 now.

Quinn Dunbar, a student at Latimer Road Elementary, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in September, 2002.

Two years into their cancer journey with Quinn, Dave and his wife Suzanne discovered the BCCCPA and decided to get involved. They’d seen many families trying to cope without the kind of support they’d received from friends, family and their church.

Parents of children who have been diagnosed with cancer face a difficult path. The Dunbars were shocked at the costs families incur, and by what the medical system doesn’t cover.

Along with loss of income – at least one parent usually gives up their job during their child’s illness – travel and associated costs can be enormous, says Dave. “Forty per cent of all the kids are from outside the Lower Mainland.”

A few hundred dollars can help lift an already difficult burden. The group helps provide financial aid through its financial aid program.

“We give to families from every corner of the province.”

The ride takes place Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Cloverdale Recreation Centre, at 6188 176 Street, starting at 7 p.m.

To ride, donate or volunteer, please visit http://Vancouver.TheInsideRide.com, or www.bcccpa.org.