Ride to Conquer Cancer raises a record $20.5M for Toronto researchers

More than 5,000 cyclists began the arduous journeyfrom Toronto to Niagara falls Saturday morning, kicking offthe 10th annual Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Widely considered one of the world's top public cycling events, the charity ride raised arecord $20,533,000for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre this year.

With a 200-kilometre journey in front of them, the riders gathered at Toronto's Exhibition Place for the big cheque reveal.

Those among them who'd battled and survived cancer affixed little yellow flags to their bikes.

'Her memory is the reason I run'

Before setting off, the huge crowd got a bit of inspiration fromChinyereEni, 40.

Eni survived a childhood bout with a potentially fatal bone cancer, although all of her left leg was amputated.

She recalledthe time she spent living in a B.C. hospital with 12 other children as they underwent treatment.

Of the 13, only Eni and one other childare still alive today. Her voice cracking under the weight of the memory, she remembered what is was like to see her friends gradually lose their struggle.

"We were told that our neighbour went home, and we knew what home meant. And we were terrified of going home. We lost too many," she said.

Among her deepest traumas was the death of her best friend to liver cancer.

"Her spirit has remained with me throughout my entire life. I call her my guardian angel. And her memory is the reason that I ride," Eni said, adding that completing her first ride was a "much-needed" moment of personal recovery.

Since her time in hospital as a kid, survival rates for many cancers have notably improved. If she were treated today, Eni said, she would likely still have her left legand her chances of survival would be much stronger.

'Emotional camaraderie'

Steve Merker, chief cycling officer and co-founder of the ride, said it is a "healing exercise" for many survivors to train for the ride.

"This ride is their statement saying 'I'm back.' So there's a lot of emotion in this event. I call it emotional camaraderie," he told CBC Toronto.

The money raised will super "supercharge the cancerresearch program at Princess Margaret," he added.

Specifically,it will go directly to causes like the clinical trial program, developing new therapies and treatments and creating new pharmaceutical drugs.

Over its 10 years, the Ontario ride alone has helped raise about $175-million for frontline cancer research.

This year the event was sponsored by Enbridge. Canada-wide rides have raised more than $359-million to date, the organization said in a press release.

'We did appreciate everyone's help'

The event can be equally as powerful for those who have lost loved ones along the way.

Mike Wang and his family had only recently arrived in Canada with his mother and father from China in 2008 when his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"It was a tough battle for my mom to fight cancer, but we didappreciate everyone's help along the way," he said.

Despite that aid, his mother passed in 2011.

"As an only child, it was tough because I only had my dad to share the grief with," Kangrecalled. But hefound comfort in the shared experience of the ride.

This year he raised $2,500.

Shortly after Eni's address, the riders headed out for the McMaster University campus, where they'll spend the night before beginning the second leg of the ride to Niagara Falls.

There was also a smaller starting ceremony in Niagara Falls, for riders taking an opposite route into Toronto.

Throughout the day, cyclists and cheerleaders posted photos on social media using the hashtag#TheRideTO.