1,000 kilometers for Kom op tegen Kanker raises record amount of 7.362 million euros (Mechelen)
© Leen van de Sande
The fourteenth edition of the 1,000 kilometers for Kom op tegen Kanker has yielded a record amount of 7.362 million euros. No fewer than 1,329 teams took part in the bicycle event in the last four days. The proceeds go integrally to patient -oriented cancer research.
Source: Belga
Today at 7:18 PM
During the final party of the 1,000 kilometers at the Grote Markt in Mechelen, there was another tribute to Thursday while cycling deceased road captain Ludo Dierckxsens. The 60-year-old former cycling champion became unwell by bike and did not make it. The other road captains drove shoulder to shoulder on Sunday evening along the finish line on the tones of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, the song that Dierckxsens set up when he was in a winner’s mood.
« We are all deeply affected by the death of Ludo, » says Kotk director David Vansteenbrugge. « He signed every year and was there since the first edition of the 1,000 kilometers. Ludo was a warm person, a connector. His memory will live on in the heart of the 1,000 kilometers. »
The organization calls the 7.362 million euros a « impressive sum ». Some cycling teams collected more than the mandatory starting money, it sounds, so that the amount will even increase in the coming weeks. Last year the counter stopped at 6,925 million euros with 1,251 teams that were sponsored.
