This Sunday, a Gabriola Island resident will be cycling around the island to support Ladysmith’s Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR) Unit 29.
Seventy-two-year-old Ian Waymark is embarking on a 100-kilometre bike ride around Gabriola Island Sunday, May 4 as a fundraiser for RCM-SAR Unit 29’s new rescue boat. A week before the ride, he had already raised more than $2,100.
Waymark joined the Ladysmith and District Marine Rescue Society and RCM-SAR Unit 29 this year, and when the members started raising money to equip the new rescue boat, he decided he could cycle around the island and pass out pledge forms to members of the boating community. He hoped to raise $500.
Waymark’s fundraising bike ride is combining two of his passions.
“Boating has been my passion for many years, and promoting and teaching safe boating has added greatly to what I put into boating and to the pleasure I get out of it,” he said in a press release. “Cycling has become a new passion for me, and although not fast, I like to go the distance.”
Waymark has been trying to ride two or three times a week on Gabriola with a regular group of cyclists who share his passion for being on two wheels, and some members of his cycling group will ride with him for moral support as he hits the steep hills on May 4.
There is still time to support Waymark’s fundraising ride, and you can pledge by e-mailing station29@rcmsar29.com. Tax receipts are available.