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3 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, August 20, 2009 Military MP gearing up for Tour de Rock Corporal Trevour Harding will cycle around Vancouver Island for pediatric cancer research By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF I n Afghanistan he was responsible for guarding Taliban prisoners, but soon one Oakville soldier will face an even greater challenge. Corporal Trevour Harding, 24, is getting ready to participate in the Tour de Rock, a more than 1,000km charity bike ride that will see the Queen Elizabeth Park graduate trek from one end of Vancouver Island to the other. The goal is to raise $300,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society. "It's a great cause," said Harding. "The Tour de Rock specifically funds pediatric cancer research and programs for the kids, like Camp Good Times on the mainland. The money gives these kids who are dealing with cancer a good summer." Harding, an avid mountain biker, is currently being put through his paces, biking an average 100-200 km per week as he prepares for the island-wide marathon. The training is intense, but it has to be because during the Tour de Rock Harding will have to bike around 100 kilometres a day for two weeks. It's hard work, but hard work is nothing new for Harding, who began his military career in Oakville at the age of 16 when he joined the reserves. Following high school, Harding attended Sheridan College where he took law and security for two years after which he combined his two great interests of military life and policing by becoming a military police officer. It was in this capacity that he SGT. EILEEN REDDING / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER ROCK SOLID: Corporal Trevour Harding is the 19 Wing Comox rider for the 2009 Tour de Rock team, which raises money for pediatric cancer research and supports kids with cancer and their families. was sent to Afghanistan in February of 2008. "We handled the detention barracks, processed detainees that we got," said Harding. "Some of ones we were dealing with were pretty bad people and we would process them, like finger print them and then watch them in their cells. A corrections facility over here was like what we were running over there." Harding was also required to help train the Afghan police, believed by many of his fellow soldiers to be the most corrupt and unreliable security force in Afghanistan. "We were showing them basic patrolling skills. We were getting into the basic policing stuff, but you're starting from scratch basically with those guys," said Harding. "They were a little different, they didn't have the training. We were trying to get them up to speed with the Afghan army because the army had the training and the equipment and the pay." In his Canadian Cancer Society rider bio, Harding said another thing about Afghanistan he noticed was the children who he would see playing behind the mud walls of the compound in which they lived. Despite being poor and lacking many of the comforts Canadian children have, Harding noted, they seemed happy. "They don't know any different," said Harding, who pointed out the situation is similar for children with cancer who get needles every day and go through chemotherapy. "It's what seems normal to them," said Harding. "It's all they have ever known." Harding is hoping money raised through Tour de Rock will give some of these children a different and much happier kind of experience. "The ride starts in Port Alberni, goes across to Tofino and then down to Victoria. We'll cycle into towns and do fundraisers and stuff and really raise awareness," he said. "Doing this is a one-year commitment, but in the big scheme of things, it's a small sacrifice compared to what these kids have to deal with." The Tour de Rock will begin on Sept. 19 and finish on Oct. 2. Anyone wishing to help Harding reach his fundraising goal can visit his fundraising page at http://copsforcancer.kintera.org/to urderock/harding. SHUTTERS Shop at Home Service CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION FREE SHUTTERS ETC.