Skip to content

Tour de Rock is a thrill for Alberni's Gill

84023alberniTourdeGill-mug-may27_7800
Port Alberni RCMP Const. Thomas Gill will ride with the 2011 Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock in September.

Port Alberni RCMP Const. Thomas Gill has been selected to ride in this year’s Canadian Cancer Society Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock.

Gill and 21 other riders from across Vancouver Island will spend two weeks in September and October riding more than 1,000 kilometres from Port Hardy to Victoria and the West Coast to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

Riders this year are police officers from CFB Esquimalt, Comox, Nanaimo, Campbell River, Oceanside and Westshore RCMP detachments and Saanich, Victoria and Oak Bay municipal police departments. There are also three media riders.

The tour starts Sept. 24 in Port Hardy and concludes Oct. 7 in Victoria. The tour will stop in Port Alberni on Friday, Sept. 30.

Gill, 43, already an avid cyclist, has been training for the ride since March; the team was announced on May 14 in Victoria.

Gill intends to raise $25,000 for his tour. Each member is asked to raise a minimum of $5,000.

“I just feel $25,000 is a good starting point,” he said. “If I can raise more, I’ll raise my goal.”

Last year Gill helped Port Alberni rider Cpl. Wilma Bolderheij raise money for her Tour de Rock campaign.

Other riders also selected for the ride include Mary Brigham, Steve Trevor, James Matsuda, Shawn Hall, Sandra Holman, Jarrod Christison, Bill Peppy, Rochelle Carr, Sandi Swanson, Manon Chouinard, Stephanie McFarlane, Scott Green, Aaron Murray, Steve Robinson, Andrew Harward, Mike Massine, Alvin Deo, Rod Fraser, Louise Hartland, Brittany King and Chris Bush from the Nanaimo News Bulletin.

To make a donation in Gill’s name, go online to www.cancer.ca and search Tour de Rock, then Gill’s name.

editor@albernivalleynews.com