Yarraville local, Ben Yoffa, is training hard as he prepares to ‘ride to cure cancer’ on the annual hero event, the Tour de Cure Signature Tour.
Ben will take part in the ten-day cycle tour, starting in Brisbane on 29 April and finishing in Sydney on 8 May 2016. Ben will be part of a team of more than 200 riders, support crew and corporate partners fundraising, educating schoolkids and presenting vital funding grants to community cancer support projects over the 1518km tour route.
The 2016 Signature Tour will see the team travelling from Brisbane to Sydney, adding a twist to take in some wonderful Tour de Cure communities along the way, enjoying the majestic coastline and wonderful Northern Tablelands region.
They will engage over 5,000 kids in the ‘BE FIT, BE HEALTHY, BE HAPPY’ message and raise funds for cancer research, support and prevention projects. Donations of $10,000 will be given to nine communities and their selected local cancer projects.
Cancer is a leading cause of death in Australia and will touch most Australians at some point in their lifetime. Since 2007, leading Australian charity organisation, Tour de Cure, has been riding to raise awareness and funds to cure cancer.
Ben joined Tour de Cure as a way to help raise funds and awareness in the fight against cancer.
“I’ve joined the Tour de Cure because of family reasons, unfortunately I have one family member with a serious fight now and my father-in-law survived prostate cancer last year. Learning the facts that 1 in 3 people are affected by this terrible disease, I was feeling helpless and saw this as my way to push myself as god knows I’m not a ‘rider’ – and raise some much needed funds towards research” said Ben
“Over the next two months I will be fundraising hard and have been blown away by the local community support. I have a Wine Dinner to be held and hosted by myself at Barkley Johnston thanks to Jim on Monday 16th April. With support from local businesses like – Jo at Café Terroni will be supporting with a main course and Matt from Cobb Lane will be producing a dessert course for the five course wine dinner. I will be presenting a range of wines from near and far with tickets $100 and limited to 20 spots. For those who like to ride, The Art of Cycling will be holding a shop ride on Saturday 23rd April with a coffee at Giddyup Mule to start, Then it’s a 70km roll down to Mordialloc and breakfast at Café Racer in St Kilda for $40. I can be found near the Yarraville Train Station on a stationery spin bike promoting the Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy message and donations will be expected. For those who cannot attend, you can show your support and help cure cancer by donating to Ben, who has set a personal goal of raising $12,000. Simply visit www.tourdecure.com.au and search Ben Yoffa to donate.
Tour de Cure Chief Executive Officer Matt Clarke said that everyday people taking part in Tour de Cure, and those donating to support their involvement, were vital to the program’s ability to raise more than $2 million each year to find a cure for cancer.
“Regional communities are often forgotten when it comes to health education and funding for cancer projects” said Matt.
“Tour de Cure is proud to help these communities with funds to support local cancer projects. We also share our ‘BE FIT BE HEALTHY BE HAPPY’ cancer prevention and education program with schools. As one in three cancers can be prevented, we want to ensure all Australians are aware of this and know what to do to help prevent cancer.”
Community members are invited to join Tour participants and crew for dinner each night, and cheer roadside for the riders and support crews while they are on their journey to cure cancer.
You can show your support and help cure cancer by donating to Tour de Cure at www.tourdecure.com.au
For more information on the route and the individual communities we will be visiting on Tour in April/May, please continue to check: www.tourdecure.com.au/pages/tours/signature-tour-2016
You can also follow the Tour on social media:
Twitter @tourdecure_aus
Facebook facebook.com/TourdeCureAustralia
Instagram instagram.com/tourdecureaus/
