Skip to content

Five years strong: Val Thérèse teen bikes for cancer research

A little bit of rain didn't discourage 14-year-old Tanner Levesque from taking to the streets on his bicycle and pedalling from Val Therese to Bell Park.
290815_MD_tanner
Tanner Levesque makes his way down the home stretch of his 25 km ride on Aug. 29. Photo by: Matt Durnan

A little bit of rain didn't discourage 14-year-old Tanner Levesque from taking to the streets on his bicycle and pedalling from Val Therese to Bell Park.

For the fifth year in a row, Levesque rode his bike to raise money for cancer research, but this year he added on nine kilometers to his ride, bringing the voyage to 25 kilometers total.

While many teenage boys would be asleep on a Saturday morning, Tanner rose at 6:30 a.m. downed a Pop Tart and got himself ready for a two hour ride.

The additional distance wasn't much of a bother, according to Levesque, though he admitted that the final stretch was a bit of a grind.

“I was feeling great until we got to the Bridge of Nations,” said Levesque. “Going up that hill was pretty tough and it was right at the end of the ride too.”

Levesque was joined on the ride by his sister Emmaleigh, while his parents Ron and Leeann followed in their car. When Tanner reached the finish line he was greeted by family and friends who congratulated him on another successful ride.

“I'm very proud of him,” said Leeann. “Everything he puts in to get the awareness out there, he does such a great job with organizing and collecting money.”

Tanner's donation page will remain open until Wednesday (Sept. 2)  this week according to Leeann.

While the weather didn't quite cooperate for Tanner's plans to jump into Ramsey Lake following the ride, the family was still going to make good on their post ride barbecue. When asked if he was ready to hop on his bike and ride back home, Tanner's response was a prompt and cheerful, “no way!”


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.