Cycling4Diversity (C4D) is planning a 24-hour spin-a-thon on Aug. 21 at noon at the Fitness Lab in Mission.
C4D celebrated its 10 year anniversary last spring from May 16-22 by “Spinning4Diversity.”
The team will be led once again by founder, Ken Herar and co-host, Mike Bismeyer, as guests join in on a virtual conversation through social media while spinning at The Fitness Lab.
“Our five-day S4D event last May was a huge success which brought many important voices to the cause,” said Herar. “We have many different voices wishing to participate this time which were unable to do so in May.”
Herar said they are opening up a full day for anyone who wishes to spin and share their positive message in 45 minute time slots.
“We welcome all levels of riders as the event is focused on the conversation not physical endurance. Anyone with mobility or participation challenges please message S4D and we will ensure your needs are accommodated.”
According to Herar, diversity discussions are not solely about racism or division.
“I see this as a community building exercise highlighting the many strengths, positive stories and people that make up our neighbourhoods and communities. In an era of social media, we witness a lot of finger pointing and for us to further the cause of diversity, we need to have community conversations.”
If you have an inspiring story or suggestions on how to diversify the community, Herar encourages you to join the event.
“In my option, the only way to end stereotyping and/or racism is by having exercises such as this to build open communication, something we seem to be lacking in at times. When we’re privy to many different stories, we realize our commonality rather than our differences. Racism is not solely a skin colour issue, it can be found within same cultural groups, social and class branding, gender and ageism. This also provides a unique opportunity to inspire diversity leadership within our youth, which is an ever building momentum,” said Herar.
Pre-registration is required to join in as an individual, family, groups, co-workers or organizations. This is a cost free event which will be live streamed via various social media platforms.
You can email spinning4diversity@gmail.com for more information.