Ben and Ian’s Big Adventure

On Monday, August 3rd, two somewhat bedraggled cyclists pulled up to the Cardinal Café at about 9am. They were ready for coffee after having cycled from Arden that morning on the Tay Havelock Trall, after spending the night camped under and bridge to stay out of the torrential rains that blanketed the region on Sunday.

But they took the experience of camping a bridge in the rain as just another part in the odyssey that has become their lives since leaving Victoria almost 70 days ago.

The younger of the two men is Ben Shopland. He is 18, the same age that Terry Fox was when he began his Marathon of Hope. Ben took part in his first Terry Fox run when he was in grade 6, and the story stuck with him.

“[Terry’sFox’s] immense will to keep moving on with the odds against him was something truly honourable. At the time his story felt more so a legend of the past but as I've grown up cancer has become more personal,” Ben Shopland said on the web page about the ride, which will not be over until he reaches St. John’s, Newfoundland, where Terry Fox started his run.

Ben watched as both his mother and grandmother have battled breast cancer, fortunately with positive outcomes at this time, and now that he is 18 himself, we wanted to cycle across Canada to raise money for cancer research, using gravel roads and trails to make the trip more interesting, and safer than it would be on major highways.

“When he wanted to go on this trip, I decided I would go with him, to share the experience,” said Ben’s father Ian, an avid cyclist and former cycle shop owner.”

They have been covering an average of 120km a day, through smooth and rough terrain alike, camping on most nights.

“As my dad and I bike across Canada, every pedal stroke, every climb and every headwind is a tribute to those affected. We are pushing our physical and mental limits to raise awareness and funds for cancer research, with the hope that one day, no one has to lose a loved one to this brutal disease,” said Ben.

Their trip is included in the Marathon of Hope website, at https://ride.terryfox.ca/page/ben-and-ian-across-canada, and Ben posts on Instagram almost every day. The fundraising goal he has set it $50,000 and as of Tuesday, almost $34,000 had been raised,

Ben estimated they will make it Newfoundland sometime in September, at which time they will return to Ferney, having completed and epic father-sun road trip, all the while raising money for cancer research.

On this day their destination was Almonte, and after meeting with an old friend of Ian’s who came to see them from Kingston since Sharbot Lake the closest they will get to Kingston, they stopped by the Frontenac News office for a photo before heading back to Railway park to get back on the trail