Eden Babbitt after completing a 190.1-kilometre bike ride on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. (submitted photo)
A Lurgan Beach teen arrived in Tobermory on her bicycle yesterday afternoon, successfully completing a lengthy trek from Kincardine to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula.
Sacred Heart High School student Eden Babbitt, 15, set off on Wednesday morning for the ride to promote environmental awareness and raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Babbitt and her team arrived at the Chi-Cheemaun ferry terminal in Tobermory at around 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
In all, the cycling trip was measured at 190.1-kilometres.
“It was a tough, tough ride, especially towards the end. But it was so worth it,” Babbitt says. “When we got up that last hill and saw the water of Georgian Bay … the first thing that went through my mind was ‘I’ve never wanted to ride my bike straight into the water as much as I do right now.'”
Babbitt did the ride over two days, cycling from Kincardine to Wiarton on Wednesday before stopping for an overnight rest. Thursday, the 15-year-old and her team set off from Wiarton for the home stretch to Tobermory.
She was ushered into Tobermory by OPP Const. Nick Wilson, who blared the sirens and flashed the lights on a police cruiser as the ride came to an end.
Babbitt’s bike ride has brought in more than $3,775 thus far for the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada — a conservation organization dedicated to saving chimpanzees from extinction.