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Mady Kennedy bikes coast to coast fundraising for cancer

What A Privilege raising money for Canadian Cancer Society

June 1, 2026, 3:33 pm
Ashley Bochek, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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Mady Kennedy of Manitoba is biking across Canada to fundraise for the Canadian Cancer Society and raise awareness for families and individuals who have struggled with cancer.

Kennedy started biking across the country by plunging into the Atlantic Ocean April 27 at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia and plans to end early June when she reaches the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver.

She is following a family tradition. Her uncle, Sheldon Kennedy, rollerbladed across Canada in 1998 raising awareness and fundraising for a charity.

Kennedy attributes the idea to her uncle and wants to continue the legacy.

“I am an endurance athlete. I just started biking 10 months ago, and I am biking across the country to raise a million dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society.”

Kennedy stopped in Elkhorn last Wednesday evening and was greeted with a large crowd of family and friends during a community barbecue held for her journey and cause.

“I currently live in Winnipeg, and I grew up in Beausejour. My family is from Elkhorn, Virden, and Brandon. We own the water park in Brandon, so I grew up in Manitoba, this is home.”

Halfway through journey
Kennedy explains stopping in Elkhorn and travelling through Manitoba last week was the halfway point in her journey.

“We started in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, we jumped in the ocean there at the beginning. This is the halfway point, which is kind of poetic—the halfway point being the hometown stretch, it is definitely the motivation I needed. Then, we’re going to end in Vancouver on June 14, my 30th birthday.”

Family affected by cancer
Kennedy says cancer has closely affected her family and sees her journey as a way to embrace the privilege of a healthy body.

“My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021, and I seen firsthand how quickly and easily our health can be ripped away from us, and it just made me never want to take that for granted again. So I’ve been on a mission to really take advantage of my healthy, able body and inspire other people to move and appreciate life more while we have it.”

Inspiration from family
Kennedy says her uncle, Sheldon Kennedy, was a huge inspiration to bike coast to coast.

“My uncle rollerbladed across Canada 30 years ago when he was also 29, and so now I want to continue on that legacy, and I just thought, let’s go big and try to raise money and do this experience with my dad. So, I came up with the idea and when I commit to something, I go all in. So then I told my dad, ‘Dad, we’re doing this,’ so I kind of forced him into it, but it has been fun being on the road together and having him by my side.”

Kennedy says she is motivated to bike for cancer survivors.

“It’s about being able to move and having the privilege of a healthy, able body. I want to be able to do that for the people that can’t, and show people what’s possible.

“I think people assume because I’m biking across Canada, I know what I’m doing, and I have all this experience, and I don’t. I literally have no idea what I’m doing. I’m figuring it out as I go. I just started biking. I biked on a trainer for hours a day. I had no experience with elevation or wind or being outside. I got my bike a week before I left. I have almost no training outside, so it’s been a learning curve the entire journey, but I think I’m a huge advocate for starting before you’re ready and figuring it out as you go, and just trying. I believe in starting as a beginner, failing, and learning the lessons as we go, and I don’t think we do that enough in life.”

Donate online at Canadian Cancer Society What A Privilege
Kennedy says anyone can donate online through What a Privilege on the Cancer Society website.




“People can donate to What a Privilege and the Cancer Society. I am documenting the entire journey on my social media and there is a link on there to donate. What a Privilege Canadian Cancer Society is our cause and place to donate.

“I am unsure how much we have raised so far. We will have to go through all of the numbers after the hometown stretch because we had a lot of support over the last week, so we have to do a new tally, but we do have a long way to go, but I’m confident that we can get there with the momentum from these past few days through home.”

Mental challenge
Kennedy says she bikes up to 200 kilometres every day.

“We’re biking anywhere from 140 to 200 kilometres a day. Our most was 200 kilometres so far, and it’s about seven hours on the bike every single day. So, it’s like a job, like a shift. I get up and have breakfast, and then get out there for a couple hours, take a little break, go out there for more, and then finish the day, recover, go to bed, and start again the next day.

“It’s a lot of time, but it’s more about being fit mentally than physically. Being able to occupy your mind for that long, and making sure that it’s a really good place to be in your mind because when you’re in your thoughts for that long, it can be hard to steer it in the right direction.”

She says connections, stories, and people she has met on her journey motivate her each day.

“Every single day, I’ve wondered, ‘why am I doing this?’ In the tough moments I have, that goes through my mind, and I think it’s honestly an opportunity to look at my why, and come back to the reason that I’m doing it. I think every time that comes up, within half an hour, something happens, and it’s like that’s my why. It’s the connections or people telling their story, and I come to a realization, and think that this is exactly why I’m doing it.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything big and monumental in the moment, but when you look at the bigger picture of the lives you’re impacting, and having those conversations with people, it’s so amazing.”

Stories shared on journey
Kennedy says many people across Canada have shared their cancer stories whith her along her journey.

“The number of people that have shared their cancer stories, whether that’s themselves going through it, being a survivor, their wife, or they lost somebody close to them, it’s so heartwarming, it breaks your heart, but at the same time it’s the motivation that keeps me going. That is my mission and my why, so hearing those stories gives me both sides of it, and it’s so cool to have those connections with people.

“One guy that we met on the tour, was going through cancer treatment during his bike ride across Canada, which was so crazy. A little boy that we met in Deep River, he was casually biking on Mother’s Day to his grandpa’s house, and we ended up biking with him for maybe three minutes, and he loved what we were doing, and I thought I would never see him again. The next day, I ended up getting an email, he somehow found my email, and he wrote, ‘My grandma just passed away of cancer. I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life. I want to bike across Canada when I’m older, just like you.’ Stuff like that means the world to me. It is so heartwarming to know that you’re making an impact on someone’s life, and that they might remember it for the rest of their life and inspire them to do something crazy too.”

Kennedy says she is biking across the country to encourage and motivate everyone to challenge themselves.




“I’m doing it for everybody. There are two pieces to it, there’s the piece that is for the people that can’t, and then there’s the piece that if you are able, it’s to encourage people to take advantage of that and take care of their healthy bodies while they have it. I just deeply believe that we can do anything that we set our mind to, and if you have the privilege of having a healthy able body, take care of it, and if you don’t, that is who I’m riding for.”

Donate to Maddy Kennedy’s cause, “What A Privilege”, online at:
Click here to donate

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