Northern Ont. motorcyclists cruise 1,000 miles for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

More than a dozen motorcycle enthusiasts from Greater Sudbury took off for a long journey Friday morning.

They’re part of the 1000-Mile Ride Challenge for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.

It’s the first event of its kind and was organized by Dave and Crystal Beauparlant. Dave was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2023.

He said his health is day-to-day, but he wanted to combine his love of motorcycles with a cause close to his heart.

“A thousand-mile ride is not an easy challenge, but cancer at the end of the day gets in the way of anything,” said Dave. “There’s not much awareness out there for leukemia. And being in northern Ontario, I find there’s not enough compared to the big cities… This is why we’re doing it to Thunder Bay and back.”

The group left from The Rock Harley Davidson dealership Friday, where Dave’s son, Ben works.

They plan to drive to the Terry Fox Memorial in Thunder Bay and then return to Sault Ste. Marie early Saturday morning. The entire 1,000 miles is estimated to take about 18 hours.

Ben predicted the journey would be tough, speaking with CTV News on Friday.

“It’s going to be hard, but no matter what, we’re going to do it. We’re going to come out on top,” he said. “Being up for that amount of time and being on the bike - two wheels especially, you’ve got to keep your balance. So, it’s going to be rough on the body, but you just got to keep positive.”

There is help available just in case – a chase truck stocked with snacks, drinks and Gerry cans of fuel in case some of the smaller gas tanks run dry.

Dave’s cousin Steve Beauparlant volunteered to drive that chase truck.

“It’s nice that I can be here able to support and even if I can’t ride a bike, well, it doesn’t mean I can’t be there with the truck and fuel and everything else,” Steve said.

According to Dave this first-ever event has been able to raise more than $14,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada. The Beauparlant family hopes it becomes an annual event for the north.