Welcome to Lap the Gats for Parkinson’s
Lap the Gats for Parkinson’s is a charitable cycling event taking place on Sunday June 24th, 2018 in Gatineau Park to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research.
The event will take place along a 21 km panoramic loop within Gatineau Park where, solo or in a team, participants can see how many loops they can complete in 3 hours.
The loop consists of hills and thrilling descents along smooth parkways untouched by salt and hard winter conditions.
This event is for anyone passionate about supporting Parkinson’s research and has something to offer to all types of cyclist – team or solo category.
For those riding in the Team category we challenge you to ride against our Parkinson Research Consortium (PRC) cycling team made up of cyclists from the Parkinson’s community.
For competitive riders looking for a challenge, we will be awarding a yellow jersey to the rider who can complete the highest number of loops in the shortest time, and the coveted red polka dot jersey to the fastest rider on a timed uphill sprint.
Anyone who wants to prepare for the event and gain the health benefits from cycling, you can simply join our PRC team on-line with our weekly training schedule as they train for this exciting event.
Lap the Gats for Parkinson’s is the brain child of two doctors specializing in Parkinson’s disease research: Dr. David Grimes, a clinician and neurologist, and Dr. David Park, a neuroscientist. They work together towards understanding why brain cells die in Parkinson’s disease; and afterwards often enjoy a friendly rivalry riding through the Gatineau hills.
In 2004, Dr. Grimes and Dr. Park formed the Parkinson Research Consortium (PRC) and in addition to performing groundbreaking research, the PRC has worked with the Ottawa community to raise over $3 million in funds for Parkinson’s research and training programs.
One day a patient of Dr. Grimes mentioned how beneficial cycling was both mentally and physically to his symptoms (and in particular those challenging rides in Gatineau Park!). This insight inspired the creation of Lap the Gats, a cycling event geared to raising funds and awareness of the Parkinson Research Consortium, as well as bring together the active Parkinson’s and cycling community
For more information go to “Why Parkinson’s”.
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