HLB BERMAN FISHER 24-HOUR RYDE-A-THON RAISES $190,000 AND AWARE-NESS FOR ADDISON KELLY MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION FUND

Camana Bay’s Ryde studio was a hive of activity over the weekend as over 300 participants undertook a 24-hour sporting challenge to raise funds for the Addison Kelly Mental Health Education Fund (AKMHEF) in partnership with the Alex Panton Foundation. Presented by HLB Berman Fisher, the Ryde-A-Thon, now in its 6th year, saw teams take part in back-to-back classes at the Ryde indoor spin studio while run/walk teams completed continuous loops of a 1-mile course around the Camana Bay Town Centre, culminating in an exciting outdoor finale on the crescent on Saturday afternoon. Adding to the excitement and festival-like atmosphere, over 40 “Zwifties” completed 24 hours of cycling on stationary bikes in a virtual Zwift world whilst 4 individuals participants cycled for 24 hours straight in a solo challenge. New this year, the “Kid-a-thon”, a 1-hour kids event saw 36 children aged 2-12 compete to do as many laps of a specially designed short loop. Each junior athlete was rewarded with a medal, loot bag and ice cream courtesy of Gelato & Co.

Since its inception, the Ryde-A-Thon has raised nearly USD $1m for local charities - a mind boggling number for Maya Lewis whose son Leo, inspired the event. “Leo’s Legacy was set up to celebrate life and help those in the community who need it. In our first year our goal was to raise $50,000 and we’re now consistently exceeding three times that. It’s truly amazing and a testament to our participants who continue to amplify the event and make it their own.” Maya said.

Many of the participating teams ran their own fundraisers to raise additional sponsorships and donations. Both participating schools - Island Primary and Montessori School of Cayman - conducted bake sales, sporting challenges and other activities to raise over $15,000 towards their sponsorship goals. Both cited the importance of prioritising mental health needs of young people as their reasons for getting their communities behind the initiative.

The event’s beneficiary provided volunteers for the event as well as entering 2 teams into the sporting challenge. Rhonda Kelly, AKMHEDF’s founder and her daughter and APF Executive Director Emily Kelly stayed up all night to both help run the event and take part. “We had so much fun on our mission to raise funds and awareness to bring mental health first aid training to the Cayman Community - training that we believe will change lives. We will be equipping people with the tools to recognise when someone is struggling and how to offer support in the hope of ensuring that no one suffers in silence and saving other from experiencing presenting more heartbreaking losses like our own.”

Michelle Fisher, the event’s founder, led the event’s finale out on the Crescent at Ca-mana Bay told us: “I’m so proud of how the event has grown, without losing focus of why it was started, or it’s sense of community and fun. Each year we try to look for a charity that resonates with Leo’s Legacy and our own core values - as a Mom of four, I know I will benefit hugely from Mental Health first aid training myself and we’re thrilled to be able to help Rhonda, Emily and the AKMHEDF on their quest to deliver it to everyone in Cay-man.”

Paige Tibbets, told us how honoured she was to be able to help put on such an impactful fundraiser. “We open our doors to this amazing event every year and I am always so humbled by those that are involved and truly thankful for everyone, most importantly Michelle and Maya for putting together such a fun way for us all to give back to our com-munity.”

The organisers would like to thank event sponsors HLB Berman Fisher, FFP, Ogier, H2Only, Cayman National Bank, Highvern, Kensington, Centre Pointe Ltd, Dean and Claire Henrickson and Rotary Central Cayman for their support.

Ryde Cayman

Ryde Cayman is a unique indoor cycling studio offering the next generation of indoor cycling by bringing the latest technology and equipment such as Stages SC3 bikes to a state-of-the-art venue in Camana Bay. The studio offers a full schedule of classes where Ryders pedal to the beat and sounds of a range of musical genres in an exhilarating high intensity fitness experience.