RIDING OVER 1500KM TO CURE CANCER

University of Sydney Union’s CEO, Andrew Woodward will be taking on a 1576km challenge from Sydney to Hobart …by bike! The trek will take 10 days from 28 Mar – 6 Apr 2014 and is part of the Tour de Cure – a cycling foundation dedicated to curing cancer.

Since 2007 the Tour de Cure has raised over $10million and focuses on cancer research, support and prevention projects. Andrew and the other participants will be stopping at schools to present Tour de Cure’s ‘Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy’ message and give out packs that include a book about cancer written for children. Every evening, the Tour de Cure participants will attend community dinners where $5,000 will be donated to a local cancer-related project.

Andrew says he’s motivated to do this after losing his mother-in-law to an aggressive brain cancer (8 weeks from diagnosis to death) just over 3 years ago. “I promised my wife that one day I would do the Tour De Cure in her mum’s memory”.

Since that time Andrew’s brother-in-law and father-in-law have unfortunately encountered cancer and thankfully are now in remission but now his father is going through treatment for thyroid cancer that has spread to his sinus and chest.

“The suffering that I saw each of these family members endure is a massive motivator, as is the pain I witnessed my wife endure as she cared first for her mum, then her father and then her older brother. The strain cancer places on everyone is extreme and I don’t want my kids to have to experience this in the way we have had to,” Andrew says.

Andrew will have trained for 24 weeks when he starts. Each week of his strict and intensive training schedule is made up of 6 rides varying from 1-7 hours as well as stretching and core exercise sessions.

Andrew imparts this bit of advice to anyone thinking about getting into long-distance riding –“Other than ‘just do it’, it would be to prepare yourself for long hours in the saddle and to feel sore and tired on a regular basis. If you love it like I do, it is fun and very rewarding.”

You can help him ride to cure cancer by donating at My Tour de Cure