For the fouth year, Athina and her family are hosting a cycling ride to benefit the Desmoid Tumour Foundation Canada. Join us July 13/14th to ride with cyclists from around the globe and raise money for this wonderful cause.  

Starting in the spring you can start training for your distance until the Ride Day. On  July 13th, come ride a 30km scenic route in Penticton. If you want to make it a longer weekend of riding joing the Okanagan Granfondo on Sunday July 14th, everyone who raises $1000 will get a free entry into this iconic event. You can also ride in your hometown with family and friends and still receive the same incentives and prizes.

Log your training rides on this platform and start fundraising now to earn great rewards and chances to win awesome prizes.

You can start uploading your training rides starting anytime and on July 13th (i.e. Ride Day), you can join Athina at Rotary Park in Penticton to do a 30km scenic ride route through the Naramata bench ending back at Rotary park for prize giveaways and snacks.  If you want more of a challenge raise $1000 and get a free entry into the Okanagan Granfondo in Penticton BC on July 14tth, 2024 and ride one of four distances 50km,80km,120km or the 160km, or make your own Athina's ride with family and friends in your hometown log your miles and fundraise all funds go to research!

Register for the ride and start your training and fundraising right away. You can upload your training rides to your profile page by following the instructions (see 'How do I sync my tracking app?' below).  There are some great incentives to be earned by training and raising money for this great cause.

Registration is free. All you need to do is sign up and Ride Hard. Smile Often. We also encourage everyone to fundraise to help fund research for this very rare and very real disease. Take a look at our incentives to see what you can earn after rasing certain amounts of money!

Sign up   

Yes, you can! In previous years this event was virtual, now we are back to normal! If you fundraise, your rewards and prizes (if you win) will be sent to your registered address. However, donations from outside of Canada will not be eligible for charitable receipts.

By creating or joining a team, you will be able to link your profile with other riders in a given team. This will mean you will see the leaderboard of team members only for cumulative distance during the training period (April 15th - July 13th, 2024),  You will be able to create your team’s fundraising target and share blog posts for support with each other.

When signing up you will be presented with the Team step where you will be able to either select to join or create a team. This step will select the Create a Team option by default and to create a team you would choose a unique team name, set a team fundraising goal, and set a team training goal.

To join a team simply select the Join a Team option in this step and begin typing in the name of the team you wish to join which will appear as you type. Select the team from the dropdown list and continue.

There is no requirement to log your training rides. However, by logging your training kilometres, you can unlock fun rewards, engage with other riders and update your supporters on your progress.

You can upload your rides manually (through your account on this site) or automatically using one of the popular fitness apps.

Follow these steps to track your kilometres automatically:

1. Download the Fitbit, or Strava and set up your account, or if you already have these ensure you are logged in.
2. Log in to your Athina’s Ride account on the Athina’s Ride website: www.athinasride.com.
3. Once logged into the Athina’s Ride site, click the drop down menu from your name on the top right corner. Under the heading My Fitness Activity, click your chosen app.
4. Follow the prompts to connect your account.
5. On your next ride, select ‘start your workout’ in the app on your phone. Once you end your workout, save your workout and ensure that this is posted as a public activity. Your distance will be published to the tally on your page the following day.

Important notes:

• If you have synced your app already, but it is not working, please log in and reconnect it.
• When using Fitbit, you must ‘start’ an activity and save it. If you are having issues, try syncing through both your Fitbit and the Fitbit app on your smartphone.
• Your tally will be updated each day with the previous day’s distances.
• Remember, you can manually add your kilometres to the tally in your My Fitness Activity tab of your profile after registering (see below for instructions).

Follow these steps to manually add your kilometres:

1. Log in to your account and select ‘My Fitness Activity’.
2. Under ‘Add activity', enter the date and distance.
3. The number of kilometres will now appear on your fundraising page.

You can upload rides manually and automatically using several fitness apps. See the FAQ instructions on "How do I sync my tracking app?" for more details.

Results can take up to 24 hours to update.  If your results do not show up right away, please check again in 24 hours.

Sign up for Athina's Ride and encourage your family, friends, and colleagues to donate to support your challenge. Here's what you can score with each fundraising milestone:

• Socks: once you’ve raised $250 you will score a cool pair of custom socks!
• T-shirt: Reach the goal of $500 and receive a limited edition Athina's Ride t-shirt.
• Entry into Okanagan Granfondo: Keep going, raise $1000, and receive an entry into the July 14th OG and can ride with your friends.
• Limited Edition Bike Jersey: Go that extra mile, raise $2000 and you will also receive a custom Athina's Ride premium jersey, made by Jakroo cycling apparel specialists. 

No, the custom socks, T-shirt, Okanagan Granfondo entry, and jersey are earned on individual fundraising achievements – not at a team level.  However as individuals if you raise enough to trigger the swag, then you will have earned it for yourself.

The Athina's Ride swag will be available for purchase at the Okanagan Granfondo expo July 12th & 13th,  location Rotary Park Penticton B.C. Come say hi to Athina at the Athina's Ride booth to purchase items or bid on silent auction items with all funds going direct to the Desmoid Canada Foundation.

Merchandise can be picked up at the Athinas Ride tent at the Okanagan Granfondo event in Penticton, BC. If you are not able to make it we are able to ship it to you!

No, fundraising isn’t mandatory to participate in Athina's Ride, but we would encourage you to try! This is your personal challenge and you set your own goal, so it doesn’t have to be daunting! We’ve got the best tips and tricks to set you up for success on our fundraise page. Any amount you can fundraise will make an impact – doing good feels good! 100% of donations will go to Desmoid Fibromatosis research happening around the world, this research helps all people affected by this disease.

Desmoid Tumour Foundation Canada (DFC) has a medical advisory board who helps us direct funding towards the best and most relevant research. Every year researchers from around the world submit their proposals for research to the Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation’s scientific advisory board made up of experts in desmoid research globally.  The scientific advisory board selects the best research they feel merits funding. Our medical advisory board then selects from that list, which research DFC should support, based on the funds we have raised.  That way we are not limiting ourselves but selecting the best most relevant research that will help us achieve the goals of improving treatment and ultimately finding a cure.

Fundraising is much easier than you think! Here are a few ways to kick start your fundraising:

1. Start with a self-donation. Contributing to your own challenge shows your family and friends that you are committed to making an impact and encourages them to do the same.
2. Spread the news. Share your fundraising page on social media and let your network know that you are riding for a cure. Everyone will want to support you and such an important cause.
3. Send an email. Your Dashboard has email templates ready for you to customize and send to your contacts.
4. Log and share your riding. Once people see your incredible efforts, they will naturally want to support you. Track your kms on  Strava /MapMyRide, or manually add them to your dashboard, and share on social media.

100% of all proceeds of Athina's Ride will go to the Desmoid Tumour Foundation Canada (DFC). DFC is the only Canadian foundation dedicated to funding desmoid tumour research and finding a cure for this rare disease. Research seeks to determine what goes wrong in cells to generate these tumours, what medical and surgical options work best, and what existing drugs or potential new drugs could provide effective treatments. DFC supports the collaboration between researchers from different institutions to expedite the development of a cure. Discoveries made through desmoid tumor research can also potentially be applied to many other kinds of cancers.

There is no requirement to ride; however, we hope that everyone will join us in our love for cycling, find a friend or loved one and go out for a ride.

Athina's Ride is a free event and fundraising is not mandatory, but we would encourage you to try. Take the challenge and set your own goal - any amount you raise will help find a cure to a very rare, but very real disease. One hundred percent of all donations received will go to Desmoid Tumour Foundation of Canada.

Since Athina's Ride raises funds for a registered charity (i.e. Desmoid Tumour Foundation of Canada), all donations will receive a Canadian tax receipt. If you don’t receive your receipt following your donation, look in your junk e-mail. If you still can't locate it, contact: desmoidcanada@gmail.com.

If you’ve made an online donation you will receive an automated e-mail that includes your tax receipt.  If you don’t receive a receipt contact desmoidcanada@gmail.com.

The Desmoid Tumour Foundation of Canada (DFC) is our registered charity partner for Athina’s Ride, and DFC issues receipts for donations received through the event.