We have taken nearly three years to plan our Ride to Conquer Cancer and it is thrilling to know we are going this weekend. The preparation and planning for this Ride has been the result of great work by Foundation staff and in particular, Christine Lasky and Steve Merker. As well, our Board and many volunteers have provided incredible support. The involvement and participation of medical staff and researchers from The Princess Margaret helped us achieve lift off in the early days and we look forward to riding with so many of our doctors and researchers. This two-day event has the potential to set a new Canadian record for a cycling event and we look forward to announcing the total number of riders and the total funds raised on Saturday morning. We learned a great deal from the Pan Mass Challenge which was launched in 1980 and raised an incredible $33 million last year. For purposes of comparison, it took Pan Mass 20 years (1980 to 2000) to achieve their first $12 million fundraising total. We have had an incredible word-of-mouth program, point-of-sale program and media advertising program to launch our Ride. Dr. Ben Neel and Dr. Bob Bell along with Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz will be making the final decisions on how funds will be used but the incredible amount of money raised will help us continue as “one of the world’s top 5 cancer research centres”. The countdown has begun and we pray for great weather, safety for one and all, and an experience that each and every rider will reflect back on (maybe with sore legs!) as a true accomplishment. I’m sure we will not get everything right and we will need to make improvements for next year but we have done everything humanly possible to make this a safe, successful and record-breaking event. I can’t wait to get on my bike Saturday morning at about 4:30 a.m. as I know I won’t be able to sleep much Friday night. I look forward to riding with many of you and making some new friendships over the 200 kilometers to Niagara Falls. Here we go!