November 11, 2010 (Montreal, QC) – Two Montreal riders, Marc-Wayne Addison and Hugues Lapointe, took off Tuesday morning on a 650km ride to Quebec City in aid of Canadian food banks. Their objective is to raise awareness of the plight of the three million Canadians affected by hunger and to collect 6,500lbs of food at drop-off points in the various towns they will be riding through.

Addison, 39, who is a top level cyclist and operational director at the popular Mardis Cyclistes crit series, was apprehensive about the first leg of his trip on Tuesday morning. “It’s 285km from here to Victoriaville where we are stopping for the night. The longest one-day ride I’ve ever done is 265km in a race from Montreal to Quebec City.” His companion Lapointe echoed this trepidation but has raced from Montreal to Quebec City five times. “We hope that it doesn’t snow,” added Addison, “but we have cyclo-cross bikes in our support vehicle if that happens.”

Two support vehicles will accompany the pair along their route, one following behind and another travelling in front. A police escort was also scheduled to lead the cyclists across Montreal’s Jacques Cartier Bridge.

“The police escort won’t be ready for us until 10:30 a.m.,” said Addison. “That puts us on the bridge about two hours behind schedule and we’re going to have to ride at 40 to 50kmh to catch up with our schedule after that!” Addison was up for the challenge – he once finished fourth overall at a Masters Road Worlds road race. Lapointe, who manages the Bluberi-Martin Swiss-Specialized cycling team, and works as an industrial designer for Outdoor Gear Canada, was ready as well.

The two are sponsored by Shaw Communications Inc (Addison works for Shaw Direct’s Quebec division) as part of its Together is Amazing / Ensemble, c’est incroyable campaign. Shaw, together with fellow sponsor, Campbell’s Canada, have agreed to each match the quantity of food collected with donations. If Addison and Lapointe achieve their objective of 6,500lbs, their two sponsors will triple this amount to 19,500lbs total. The proceeds will be donated to Moisson Montreal, Canada’s largest food bank.

Lapointe, 27, explained his motivation for doing this ride commenting, “Knowing that over 3 million people in Canada do not have enough to eat each day is staggering. As a father myself, I would not want to have to tell my children that their parents do not have the means to permit them to fill their bellies. It is, however, the reality of many families.”

Their itinerary puts them back in Montreal for Friday, November 12. Along the way, they will pass through Granby, Sherbrooke, Victoriaville, Quebec City, Donnaconna, Trois-Rivieres, and Repentigny where non-perishable foods can be dropped off.

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