Testimonials
“Many thanks to our friends from the Great White North as champion Irish hurling athlete Tony Griffin and company rode in later that day from Nova Scotia, some 2,650 miles away”
– Lance Armstrong
“I can’t put into words what this journey has meant to me….and I thank everyone so much for all their efforts to make this happen. If you ever decide to put together another project like this, I will be the first in line to support you all the way! This truly was the experience of a life time!”
– Peter McCormick, Rider & Top Fundraiser for 2008.
“I am really missing the craziness of the ride. Can’t explain it but its like I lived a different life (all of it) in two crazy-packed weeks (best description I can come up with at the moment). Everything seems vivid (more intense) yet dull in comparison to going to Texas. I see a road and I want to follow it. I look at the peak across the lake (17km one way to the top) and I’m thinking your butt is mine next sunday. Its like I’m jacked up on rock stars and got nothing to do with the energy. I can’t wait for next year!”
- Sean Lemoine, 2009 Participant
“You start out and you don’t know anyone, and you’re looking around guessing who will be fast and who will be slow, and who looks fit. When you leave on that first day you are a team that has come together with a common goal… but you are still strangers. What is truly amazing, is that when you arrive in Austin, you arrive as a family.”
- Jim Currie, 2008-09 Participant and Organizer (and his awesome wife Patti paid her own way to be the ONLY volunteer in 2009!)
“Both years were off the charts! We just got the survey results back from GIVETOLIVE and for the second straight year, 100% of the participants would recommend to a friend that they should do this adventure. I can definitely attest to that and can’t wait for 2010!”
- Paul MacQueen, 2008 and 2009 Participant
“Thanks GIVETOLIVE for all you’ve done for us. You are an amazing bunch of individuals with enormous hearts. Your belief in people and what they can accomplish is beyond words! You have made a difference in our lives these past 2 years and we feel so lucky to have been a part of these experiences. We have made many lifelong friends and wanted to say thanks for making it happen.”
- Meghan Read (2008 and 2009) and Mike Todd (2009) – Participants and Team Captains
“2009 was a pretty full year and I can only imagine what 2010 will bring all of us. I’m very thankful to have met SO many wonderful people through doing the bike ride. Hard to imagine that it was only March that I met some of you guys and now I’ve gained some pretty fantastic friends 
”
- Meghan Ferguson, Rider & Top Fundraiser for 2009
“I joined up for this ride in the spring, and although it terrified me to consider riding with a bunch of people who did not know me, it excited me that I was conquering one of my own fears. I have never been a person able to get up in front of the class, or make friends very easily…I just get too nervous. Not only was the physical aspect of the ride something I dreaded to find out I was incapable of doing, but the prospect of spending a lot of time in a group of people I’d never met before scared me more than anything else. I just kept saying to myself that what ever my experience was going to be, it would be nothing compared to a doctor telling me that he’d just discovered I had cancer.
I prepared for the trip the best way I knew how…by biking as much as I could make myself bike… And now that the trip is over, I feel a mixture of emotions. I’m proud. Of myself, of the people I rode with, of the people I met along the way who were fighting cancer, who had fought cancer and who loved people they’d lost to cancer. All of these people were smiling…even when they were crying.
I am sad. That the trip is over. That it went by so quickly…even though on days I just wanted my own bed where I didn’t worry if I was drooling in my sleep or snoring so loudly that others couldn’t get any rest!
I miss my team. We were for a short time just like a little family. We laughed, we pushed through difficult climbs, descents, rain, wind, flat tires, sore butts, and put up with one another’s idiosyncrasies…and I have to say I more than once wanted to hug them all for their patience. I am forever grateful.”
- Jody Brin, 2009 Rider
“The whole concept of giving changed my life. When I first met Tony and co-founders Bruce Mansour and Travis McDonough, I had never been lower. I could barely take care of myself, let alone give anything to someone else. Yet, here was this guy that had everything – a career as a professional athlete, a great life, a family in Ireland – and he gives it all away so he can bike 12 hours a day? It blew me away. The guy didn’t even own a bike! But little by little I followed his example and gave a little of myself each day to someone else. It was years later before I realized the connection between giving and my dramatically improved state of mind and overall well-being. As for the ride… well you can’t pay for the type of emotion you will experience on an event like this. It’s hard to even put into words, but I guarantee you will laugh, cry, scream, and experience every other emotion in-between. I can’t wait to do it again.”
– Todd McDonald, volunteer and rider 2008, 2009.
“I have been wanting to tell you all this for so very long, but always found it too emotional to put into words. Although the idea of Craig’s Cause started as the result of me losing my father, it has grown into something so much more and represents so many suffering and fighting to survive. So to each of you, please know that your hard work and dedication is helping make a difference in so many lives and is providing funds to organizations who would not meet such research goals without your support.
I have been inspired by each and every one of you and the stories that you have shared with me, both the sad and triumphant ones. I am honoured to have shared this journey with so many of you and am thrilled to have had the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful event. Biking, for me, started out because of a painful event in my life but has now come full circle, representing an activity that has created a wonderful and positive experience in my life. So thank you.”
– Stefanie Condon-Oldrieve, Rider 2008 and Founder, Craig’s Cause for Pancreatic Cancer.
“Dear GIVETOLIVE… I can’t find words to thank you enough for all the wonders you have accomplished. In my eyes, this is quite a miracle. I know how much work you have done. And you made it happen! I want to congratulate everyone. You are superstars. I am really touched and I am ready to do my part.
I will be the one behind the desk planning the registry and pancreatic cancer research (in cooperation with my colleague Mark Walsh and other cancer specialists). But I will be cheering for you. I love when people participate in sport… it is so good for your health. Thank you so much… You have been great!”
- Dr. Michele Molinari, Pancreatic Research Doctor
“Just wanted to say that the GiveToLive 2009 was an incredible adventure. After returning from this ride, I was extremely exhausted and wanted to sleep until Christmas!
After a couple of weeks and a message from Ashley communicating the amount of $ GTL raised for Cancer, I was energized. I have come to realize that life is too short to waste time. So I decided to ‘kick it up a notch’. I had been contemplating a 70.3 (Half Ironman) race for a couple of years and doubted myself because I was not a swimmer. I almost drowned as a child and have been very uncomfortable in the water. But after climbing mountains in 100 degree heat in Death Valley, pedalling along the western coast of Oregon in a ‘typhoon’ and riding 65 miles in the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Texas on the GTL 2009 ride, I realized I can do ANYTHING. So I signed up for 4 Triathlons this seaon, 3 now COMPLETED with open water swims of 750m, 1.5km, 2.0km. I DID IT! And I am so psyched for my 70.3 Muskoka on September 12th!
Many of my co-workers ask about the ride, and are inspired by my abilities and my INSANITY – But I am LIVING STRONG and spreading the word. Keep up the awesome work GTL Crew – It is making a difference, Bring It On Cancer – I am ready to do battle once again, MOUNT UP and LET’s RIDE!! ”
- Rod Sallmen, 2009 Rider
