On Sept. 18, Port Moody police Const. Chris Birtch will be trading the protection of his bullet-proof vest for a thin layer of Lycra.
Birtch will be among 40 police officers, sheriffs and first responders from around the Lower Mainland who will be climbing aboard road bikes to pedal 800 km over nine days to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
This will be Birtch’s sixth Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast, fulfilling a commitment he made when he first signed on to the annual charity event in 2004. Back then, the avid cyclist who commutes daily from his home in Port Coquitlam, then spends his weekends on long road rides out to the Fraser Valley with his buddies, bounding along the dikes on his cyclocross bike or bombing down single-track trails on his mountain bike, just wanted to keep riding. But, he said, he also saw an opportunity to motivate other officers to get involved and engage the whole department with the community.
This year, Birtch will be joined by two other officers from the Port Moody PD, Rob deGoey and Jenn Ohashi, who will ride one leg as alumni of previous Tours de Coast; another officer, Brian Wong, will be astride one of the escort motorcycles that helps keep the peloton safe along its route up the Sunshine Coast, to Whistler and around Metro Vancouver.
All of the participants have to attain prescribed fundraising goals to join the ride and it’s that effort that involves the whole department as well as the community, Birtch said.
This year, PoMo police and civilian staff held bake sales and hosted a barbecue to raise money. Officers also chipped in to help other fundraising efforts, like providing traffic control at events put on by students and staff at Scott Creek middle school in Coquitlam, which has been able to contribute $150,000 to Cops for Cancer over the last 10 years and is again amongst the top fundraisers this year.
“It can be daunting,” Birtch said of the fundraising requirement. “It’s easier to do it as a team.”
Putting up to 10,000 km of training on his own every year means the ride itself won’t be particularly arduous, Birtch said, noting, “It’s always enjoyable to be on a bike."
More challenging will be the frequent stops and restarts as the Tour visits schools, community events and sponsors along the route. But then again, it’s those that make the effort special, Birtch said.
“You feel like a rock star going into some of the smaller towns.”
The tour is also a way to strengthen the bond amongst police and first responders away from the high stress and tension of emergency situations as riders roll through the peloton and engage in conversation.
But mostly the tour allows participants to contribute to a cause much bigger than themselves that can change lives, Birtch said. Most of the riders share a direct connection to cancer through family and friends who’ve been touched by the disease.
“It was a logical connection to get involved,” Birtch said, adding he lost his mom to cancer and his dad is a survivor. “You’re riding with a purpose.”
• To learn more about this year’s Tour de Coast, and donate to a rider or team, go to https://bit.ly/2mbnIOH.
