In case you hadn’t heard, this weekend is a big one for athletes and the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre.
The third annual Ryde-A-Thon is set to kick off at 5pm on Friday, 29 April, when teams of eight will take part in an extraordinary challenge – a 24-hour relay at the Ryde indoor cycling studio in Camana Bay.
As of the end of March, over 250 participants had already registered to participate in the event that starts in the early evening, runs straight through the night into the morning, and then towards the exciting finale, happening on the Camana Bay Crescent.
The concept was the brainchild of Ryde instructor Michelle Fisher who took inspiration from a 24-hour running event she used to participate in with her father when she was a young girl.
An avid athlete herself, she said, “Having seen the success of the event my Dad participated in and was so passionate about, I’d been looking to bring a 24-hour sporting challenge to the Cayman Islands for a few years – I was just waiting for the right time.”
She found the reason she was looking for when her friends and fellow cycling enthusiasts lost their son, Leo, at just a week old back in 2019 and wanted to do something meaningful in his memory. Leo became the inspiration for the event which aims to make a big impact in the local community in his memory.
Maya Lewis, Leo’s mother, assists Fisher in planning the event and said, “After losing Leo I knew that nothing could bring him back, but I had to live life for the two of us and do his short life justice by making a difference to the community that helped us so much in our time of need.”
The Crisis Centre is benefitting from the money raised from this year’s Ryde-A-Thon, as organisers had heard about the centre’s plan to raise $2 million to build a new shelter.
Ania Milanowska from CICC said the charity is thrilled to be chosen as the beneficiary and cannot wait to help make the event a success.
“We are very grateful to the Ryde-A-Thon for choosing CICC to be the beneficiary of this fantastic event,” Milanowska said. “Our current Emergency Shelter is not sufficient for the needs of our community, so our hope is to provide a new, purpose-built shelter, so that survivors have a safe place to recover and to begin their new lives free from domestic abuse. We encourage everyone in Cayman to participate in and support the Ryde-A-Thon this year and help us achieve our goal!”
Last year’s event raised $100,000 for charity Acts of Random Kindness, and this year organisers are hoping to exceed that amount.
You don’t have to do the exercise to help the cause. Visit www.rydeathon.com to learn about signing up or donating.
Related Videos
