Retired teacher takes up Great Cycle Challenge
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One week into the 2021 Great Cycle Challenge, Tillsonburg’s Scott Gooding is well on the way toward his $5,000 fundraising goal.
As of Monday, Aug. 9, Gooding had completed 11 rides since Aug. 1, for a total of 224 kilometre, including a 45-kilometre ride. His goal is to cycle 750 kilometres in August.
The distances and times are not as important as the funds raised to help fight childhood cancer.
“Right now, over 1,400 (Canadian) children are diagnosed with cancer every year, and it’s the biggest killer of children from disease in Canada,” Gooding wrote on his Great Cycle Challenge page. “Kids should be living life, not fighting for it.”
It is Gooding’s second year raising funds for the Great Cycle Challenge.
“Last year was crazy, I can’t believe how well it went. Last year my goal was $400 I raised $8,300 or something like that which was … crazy.”
That total included a $2,000 donation from the 2020 Tillsonburg Prom Committee, which had raised funds for a prom they could not have due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not sure about my goal this year ($5,000), so if I can even get close … I mean, I understand. It’s been another year when people and businesses and service clubs have not been in a good spot.
“It doesn’t really matter. The money – any money – is helpful. All of it.
“I did raise my goals for riding, which I’m sort of regretting now,” he added with a laugh. “Last year it was 400 kilometres, and that wasn’t too bad. I went for 750 this year. I could always change that but I don’t really want to do that because I don’t want to quit on it. But that means I have to ride 25 kilometres every day.”
So far, he’s maintained that average. But it has not been easy for the retired Glendale High School teacher/guidance who turns 60 in October.
“I think I’ll have to split it, do most in the morning and the rest later. I’m not made for this stuff,” he laughed, “although I am in better shape than I was 30 years ago in some ways. It’s going to be interesting how that plays out. I’m hoping I can do it – I will do my best.
“The big thing is getting the sponsors.”
His mountain bike cycling routes are posted on his Great Cycle Challenge page. His has cycled through Delmer and Brownsville, down Airport Road toward Otterville, and south to Eden.
“I really like the trails, but you can’t get the kilometres. So I have to do a combination of trails and roads. I just decide ‘where am I going to go today?’ and I just go.”
MAKE A DONATION
Gooding has been sharing links to his 2021 greatcyclechallenge.ca/riders/scottgooding fundraising page on his Facebook and Instagram (scottyg9966) pages. There is an orange ‘donate now’ button on the GCC page.
Great Cycle Challenge, a national SickKids Foundation initiative, started in 2016 and in five years has grown to be one of the biggest cycling events across Canada. In total, participants have raised more than $21 million in support of research to develop treatments and to find a cure for childhood cancer.
Gooding, who grew up in the Delhi area, is riding in memory of Betty Gooding.
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