12,000 cyclists, skaters participate in annual event
About 12,000 cyclists and in-line skaters put their heart into pumping $3 million into medical research, social change advocacy programs and health information initiatives during yesterday’s Heart and Stroke Foundation Ride for Heart.
The Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway were closed off for the event as participants cycled up to 75 kilometres for pledges in the 21st annual ride.
The ride funds will help the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario support research on stroke drugs and surgical techniques, as well as 100 scientific studies and science grants, said the foundation’s director of research Dr. Marco Di Buono.
Some of the medical research is geared specifically to issues of increasing rates of heart disease among post-menopausal women.
Some funding will go into ethnocentric research, according to Di Buono.
