The Citizen, 2015-06-18, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015.
Through hours of driving rain on
Sunday, the Blyth-based Fire Riders
cycling team completed the Ride to
Conquer Cancer, pulling through the
Niagara Falls Parkway finish line
just before 2:30 p.m.
The team, which consists of 11
riders, three of whom are members
of the Fire Department of North
Huron, completed the event’s
“classic” route over the weekend,
which began on Saturday morning at
Humber College’s Lakeshore
campus. The riders camped at
Hamilton’s Mohawk College on
Saturday night and finished on
Sunday in Niagara Falls.
Blyth’s Jeff Josling, the team’s
captain, called the weekend
“awesome” and said it was a very
emotional experience for him.
“I’ve been telling everyone that
it’s the hardest/easiest thing I’ve ever
done,” he said. “Of course, it’s very
physically demanding, but when you
see people along the route cheering
you on and thanking you and all the
encouragement we got from home
through calls or texts or social
media, it really encouraged you to
keep going.”
From the time the shuttle made its
way to the event’s starting line on
Saturday morning, Josling said he
knew the team could accomplish
what it had set out to do. Opening
ceremonies, guest speakers and the
presence of nearly 5,000 other
cyclists who were similarly
committed, he said, only
strengthened his resolve and
confidence that the ride was an
attainable goal, as insurmountable as
it may have seemed to some.
While Josling said he found the
entire experience to be an emotional
one for him, it was when he and his
wife Shanann crossed the finish line
together that he was fully overcome
with emotion seeing his parents,
Dianne and Paul Josling, his sister
and a number of his friends there
cheering the team on.
“It was pretty amazing seeing
people cheering us on as we came
through the finish line. I was
worried I wouldn’t be able to see
[those there to support the Fire
Riders], but our cheering section
was the loudest one,” he said.
Josling, however, reserved his
most candid comments for his
teammates, whom he says he loves.
He says that while he knew the
Ride to Conquer Cancer was
something he wanted to take on, the
support from the other 10 members
of the team – seeing them grind and
put themselves through the physical
strain of the ride – meant more to
him than he could ever explain.
Josling first assembled the Fire
Riders – he and his wife Shanann,
Paul and Cindy Kerr, Jeff Elliott,
Rick Elliott, Donna Walsh and
Shawn Loughlin, all of Blyth, Marg
Anderson of Londesborough,
Heather Elliott of Guelph and
Jessica Carter of New Hamburg –
late last year as an initiative to both
lift the spirits of his parents and do
something positive in the fight
against cancer.
Jeff’s father Paul, who spent over
35 years with the Blyth Fire
Department, over 20 as its chief, is
currently battling his second bout of
cancer and has served as the
inspiration behind Josling’s vision of
the Fire Riders.
Soaked after standing in pouring
rain for hours on Sunday, Paul said
he couldn’t have been happier or
more proud when the Fire Riders
arrived in Niagara Falls.
“To see what [the team]
accomplished, I was just so filled
with pride,” Paul said.
While Paul says he is proud of his
son and the team, he can’t say he
was surprised.
“I thought it sounded crazy to me,
riding 200 kilometres on a bicycle,
but I knew that if Jeff put his mind to
it, he would do it,” Paul said.
Serving as the inspiration for a
team of riders, Paul says, has been a
truly humbling experience – not just
through the Fire Riders, but to be at
the finish line and to see thousands
of cyclists taking on the challenge
and raising money to fight cancer.
In total, the Fire Riders rode 220
kilometres – 110 kilometres per day
on Saturday and Sunday. While the
weather was sunny and the roads
were dry on Saturday, the second
half of Sunday’s ride was made more
challenging by a steady, driving rain
that only intensified over the course
of the afternoon.
Jeff, however, says that while the
rain was unpleasant at the time, it
made him more determined, as the
“terrible” conditions on the final leg
of the challenge, on which riders
were most fatigued, only made the
accomplishment greater.
“To ride 220 kilometres, for a
bunch of people who aren’t cyclists,
in those terrible conditions... it’s
Fire Riders battle rain, raise nearly $40,000
A long two days
After months of fundraising, training and mental preparation, the Blyth-based Fire Riders
completed the Ride to Conquer Cancer over the weekend, beginning in Toronto on Saturday
morning and ending in Niagara Falls Sunday afternoon. The team battled driving rain on
Sunday to reach its goal, all while raising nearly $37,000 for the Princess Margaret Cancer
Centre in Toronto, all in the name of former Blyth Fire Chief Paul Josling, who is battling his
second bout of cancer. From left: Paul Josling, Jeff Elliott, Shawn Loughlin, Heather Elliott, Jeff
Josling, Cindy Kerr, Paul Kerr, Rick Elliott, Shanann Josling, Donna Walsh and Marg
Anderson. Fire Rider team member Jessica Carter completed the Ride, but was absent for the
picture. (Dianne Josling photo)
Soaked, yet determined
Fire Riders team captain Jeff Josling, right, and his wife
Shanann are seen here triumphantly crossing the Ride to
Conquer Cancer’s Niagara Falls finish line in the pouring
rain Sunday afternoon. (Photo submitted)
Continued on page 14
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