Ride for Sight rolls again

From the Foundation Fighting Blindness

TORONTO, ON – The annual Ride for Sight is revving up to drive thousands of people out of the city and over to Mosport International Raceway. The motorcycle fundraiser, which takes place June 25-26 - otherwise known as G20 weekend - will be hosted for the first time at the world-renowned racetrack, located an hour east of Toronto near Bomanville. It offers fun and entertainment for everybody, including camping, concerts, motorcycle demo rides, a marketplace and more, while raising money for the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

The 32nd Annual Ride for Sight motorcycle parade will be led by Jim Caruck, star of HGTV’s Real Renos, and the weekend festival features Canadian rock legends, Trooper.

Caruck says Ride for Sight is a good time and a great way to help the more than one million Canadians losing their sight to degenerative eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. Money raised goes to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which funds groundbreaking eye research at universities and hospitals across Canada.

“Now more than ever is an exciting time for vision research,” says Caruck. “The money raised by Ride for Sight will make a significant difference in funding research to find treatments and cures for eye diseases that cause blindness.”

This year’s Ride kicks-off from a new location, Woodbine Racetrack. The parade heads north from there to Mosport Raceway where riders will have a chance to do a victory lap around the famous track. The weekend’s non-stop entertainment will include FMX stunt shows, bike games, a Show n’ Shine, a huge marketplace, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Yamaha demo bikes to try out, a massive camping area, and live concerts Friday and Saturday nights.

The weekend festivities are free for anyone who has raised a minimum of $75 in donations. Register online at www.rideforsight.com or call The Foundation Fighting Blindness at 416-360-4200.

Riders and their family and friends will be joined by 22-year old Dale Turner, who has LCA, an eye disease that robbed him of his vision since birth. He is the first Canadian to have some vision restored from a new gene therapy. He will be riding on the back of a motorcycle in the parade and hopes that the funds raised will give more Canadians the chance to regain their sight.

The parade leaves Woodbine Racetrack at 10:00am, Saturday, June 26; riders will register at 8:00am and enjoy a free pancake breakfast before cruising their way through scenic back roads as they make their way over to Mosport. Individuals can also register directly at Mosport both Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26 and camp overnight for free.

Last year, Ride for Sight participants nationwide raised over $1 million for the Foundation Fighting Blindness; more than half of that was raised from Central Ontario. Ride for Sight takes place in seven regions across the country and is the longest running motorcycle charity fundraiser in Canada. Since it began 31 years ago in Central Ontario, it has raised more than $17 million. The Foundation Fighting Blindness was founded in 1974 to fund research to find the causes, treatments and cures for degenerative eye diseases that cause blindness.