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Cycling 4 Water: Cyclists ride across Canada to raise money for clean water

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FORT LAWRENCE, N.S. -

Millions of people in the world don’t have access to safe water or sanitation. A group of four friends from British Columbia are determined to ‘break that cycle’ by cycling across Canada.

The four-man team of cyclists is riding nearly 10,000 km to help raise funds to provide clean drinking water in Africa.

The group of four friends began their journey on July 25th.

Rob Montgomery, an avid cyclist pitched the idea to his friend Mike Woodard years ago after he began cycling himself.

“I said ‘Rob if we do this, we have to do it for a cause because I think you want to do it for fun, and I can’t imagine that,” recalls Woodard.

Montgomery told CTV News that they wanted to focus on the need for water in third-world counties.

"The statistic is that there are almost 800 million people in the world without clean drinking water. Every 90 seconds a child dies from water-borne disease and that’s 1,000 a day so that’s what motivated us,” says Montgomery.

The group decided to partner with a Global Aid Network in Africa, which drills drinking wells. According to Montgomery, each well costs $8,500, which serves 1,000 people.

“Clean water transforms villages, first of all, it saves people's lives, secondly it changes the whole dynamic of the village,” said Woodard.

“We’re all fathers and grandfathers and it would break our hearts to see our grandchildren or children die because they didn’t have access to clean water.”

As of Friday afternoon they’ve raised $292,378. Woodard says with the number of funds they’ve received so far they are on their way to providing almost 50 wells.

Their goal is to raise enough money to provide 65 freshwater wells.

“We're thrilled to think as a result of this ride there will be at least 50 villages that get clean water and a deep kept well.”

Due to COVID-19 regulations, they weren’t able to start in their planned starting spot of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T, so they began in Dawson City, Yukon.

They are hoping to arrive at their final destination in Halifax by the end of Saturday.

You can donate to Cycling 4 Water on their website

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