Grandfather hopes to break cross-country cycling record
Posted July 2, 2011 2:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A 54-year-old Winnipeg grandfather is hoping to break the world’s record for the fastest bike trek across Canada. But he’s not doing it to show off his athletic skills.
Arvid Loewen is going to have to reach Halifax in less than 13 days and nine hours to break the record. That’s basically cycling every day with only two hours of sleep a night and with the help of a very strong support team. He began his arduous journey on Friday in Vancouver.
It’s a continuation of fundraising he started five years ago for a special place in Kenya, called Mully Children’s Family.
“It’s a home that presently has 2,000 children. The founder of this organization was a street kid. He was abandoned as a six-year-old child. Twenty-three years ago he started taking street kids into his own home,” Loewen explains.
Those kids have gone on to be business people, professionals and pillars of the community.
Loewen is challenging other grandfathers to extend their love and support to kids who don’t have much of either.
“To me it became very obvious when I became a grandfather that we are in a position in Canada to say ‘yes’ to others. We have the resources and ability to open our arms up and include others who absolutely have no love or support in their life,” he notes.
So far he has raised $1.5 million for the facility.
