Rider up for the challenge

Rider up for the challenge

Mount Gambier cyclist Shane Lewis is riding his bike this month with one simple mission – to make sure that parents never need fear watching their child die from cancer because research will find treatments and cures.

Mr Lewis is taking part in the Great Cycle Challenge, with participants choosing how many kilometres they want to ride then ask their friends to sponsor them. They design their own challenge, inside or outside, alone or in groups – but all with the same mission: to fight kids’ cancer.

Mr Lewis, a teacher, was inspired to take part in the event nine years ago after learning that one of his students at school was battling leukaemia and has since raised more than $72,000 for the cause.

“I saw all the trips they had to take to hospital, that fear every time they had to wait for results. Even now, when they have yearly checks, it is so stressful,” he said.

Mr Lewis said the fundraising side had been “a real buzz’’ and was grateful for the community’s generosity.

“I like to go hard on the kilometres and the fundraising. Early on I started out saying I’d do 500km and pretty quickly that stretched out to 1500km,” he said.

“I use my road bike and my mountain bike, so it’s a combination of the two.

“What really inspires me is all the stories of the kids that get shared. When they pull through it just really makes you want to work harder and when I see myself going up that leader board it drives me to want to do more for them.’’

Since the Great Cycle Challenge started in 2013, over 79,000 riders have raised more than $27m for the cancer research done in the labs of Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI).

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