BMO Ride for Cancer breaks records with $2.56 million net raised in 2024, surpassing $12.9 million total for local cancer care in celebration of 10th anniversary!

NOTE TO EDITORS: Video, photo, and interview opportunities of BMO Ride for Cancer participants available today between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at Hobsons Lake Drive, Bayers Lake

HALIFAX, NS, Sept. 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Atlantic Canada's largest cycling fundraiser, BMO Ride for Cancer, makes history today by smashing all previous fundraising records, amassing an incredible $2.56 million net raised (and counting!) in 2024. Celebrating its 10th anniversary on Sept. 28, the QEII Foundation event has officially surpassed over $12.9 million net raised for local cancer care since its inception in 2015.

Hosted by the QEII Foundation, BMO Ride for Cancer is the largest fundraising cycling event in Atlantic Canada. Funds raised advance cancer care at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (CNW Group/QEII Foundation)

This morning began with over 1,000 cyclists riding eight different distance options via road and the Rum Runners Trail – spanning Halifax to Chester. Members of the media are invited to capture video footage and photography of event participants – including cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones – crossing the finish line at Hobsons Lake Drive, Bayers Lake.

This record-breaking event has become synonymous with local impact, with over a decade of funding cancer-fighting technology, equipment and spaces at Atlantic Canada's largest and most specialized cancer treatment hospital, the QEII Cancer Centre.

Quick facts

• Funds raised by 2024 BMO Ride for Cancer participants and donors are unlocking a new era of cancer care by funding liquid biopsy technology at the QEII Cancer Centre. With a simple blood test that can happen anywhere in the province, QEII experts will use a patient's genetics to uncover whether they're cancer-free after surgery, the earliest signs if their cancer has returned, and, if so, how best to treat it.
  • The initiative will mark one of the first times in Canada that liquid biopsies are clinically deployed and integrated into patients' care journeys on a large scale.
    
    
• The Ramia family are supporting the liquid biopsy project in a major way. The family of six brothers provided a $600,000 matching gift to BMO Ride for Cancer on September 12, resulting in a collective $910,687 raised in just one day. The amazing fundraising momentum continued on September 13, with riders and donors continuing to rally and donate. So much so, that it inspired the Ramia family to make an additional $50,000 donation, bringing the two-day fundraising total to $1,003,929.
  • The QEII Foundation is incredibly grateful for the Ramia family's visionary support and leadership. Their historic matching gift and inspiring generosity has played an instrumental role in the event's record-breaking success and bringing total funds raised for 2024 to
    $2.56 million net and counting – directly impacting the care and treatment journeys of patients and families in Atlantic Canada.
    
    
• Since 2015, BMO Ride for Cancer has raised over $12.9 million net (and counting!) to transform cancer care, here at home, for Atlantic Canadians.
  • BMO Ride for Cancer is laser-focused on continuing to build a centre of excellence in cancer care at the QEII, equipping care teams with the most advanced equipment and technology available.
  • All funds raised here, stay here with BMO Ride for Cancer proceeds impacting nearly every patient who undergoes cancer treatment at the QEII.
  • To learn more about past areas of impact funded by the BMO Ride for Cancer community – including Atlantic Canada's first surgical robotics technology for cancer surgeries and the world's first Ethos with HyperSight for radiation treatment, visit yourrideforcancer.ca/impact.
    
    
• There's still time to support a BMO Ride for Cancer participant or team, with all donations being matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $60,000, until 11:59 p.m. (AST) on Saturday, September 28. This bonus match by generous donor, Margaret Guy, is made in honour and memory of her late husband, Robert McKelvie.

Quotes

"It's an incredibly special day as we celebrate 10 years of BMO Ride for Cancer and a decade of transformational impact for Atlantic Canadian cancer patient and their families. Today, many of our participants are riding for those they love, those they're honouring and those they've lost. While record-breaking fundraising totals are exciting, the real magic is in the lives that will be changed and saved by our BMO Ride for Cancer participants, donors, partners and volunteers." – Susan Mullin, President and CEO, QEII Foundation

SOURCE QEII Foundation

For further information or to arrange event day interviews and b-roll, please contact: Tanya MacLean, Vice President, Communications and Marketing, QEII Foundation, 902 489 5664, [email protected]