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Léandre Bouchard starts cross-Canada ride for suicide prevention

Canadian XC racer raising awareness for mental health with solo ride from Vancouver to Alma

Leandre Bouchard Kéno Photographie Photo by: Kéno Photographie

Canadian World Cup cross country racer and 2016 Olympian Léandre Bouchard is ending his season with a ride for change. The 2021 XCO national champ is setting out on a 5,200-km ride across Canada to raise awareness for suicide prevention.

Bouchard starts his ride Tuesday, September 13. He’ll set out solo from Vancouver, B.C. and ride back to his home in Alma, Que. The trip is expected to take between four and five weeks, averaging 200 km a day. That puts him in Alma mid-October right before, hopefully, winter snows start falling.

“It’s going to be a lot of long days in the saddle back to back,” Bouchard admits. The Foresco Holding’s Pro Co RL rider has a strategy, though.  “I hope that I can go a bit longer on the flat days to get some cushion for when it gets hilly again.”

The former national champ is riding to raise awareness, and funds, for the Center for the Prevention of Suicide 02 – Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Chibougamau-Chapais region. The center’s mission is to prevent suicide and reduce the associated risk factors in the region.

“It’s a big project I’ve wanted to do and, since the season ended a bit earlier this year, I finally had the chance,” Bouchard said of his decision to take on the ride. “I didn’t want to do it just as a ride, I wanted to do some good at the same time. Because it is important to me, I decided to go with the prevention of suicide.”

Bouchard has his own connections to the cause and decided the ride could serve as an easier way to start more conversations about a sometimes taboo topic.

“I just want to share the message that there doesn’t have to be a stigma around suicide. We can help each other if we talk about it. Just talking about it can save lives,” the Canadian says. “As a cyclist, I will probably mostly reach other cyclists,” Bouchard says, adding “but that’s important because sometimes, in high performance sport, we don’t talk about this sort of thing enough.”

There are a couple of ways you can join in and contribute to Bouchard’s cause. First, you can donate to the Center for Prevention of Suicide 02. But you can also contribute by starting your own conversation about the topic.

“Everyone can be part of this ride, just by talking about the prevention of suicide. Talking about the ride can be a way to open the conversation about preventing suicide, as an easier way to start talking,” says Bouchard. “Even for me, it’s a bit hard to talk about it. This ride is a reason for me to talk about it and also to help others and save lives.”

Another message Bouchard wants to get out is that there are resources for anyone needing help. In Canada, there is a phone line that anyone can call or text for help. [Ph. numbers for english and french are at the bottom of the page]

“Those resources are not only for those that are suffering themselves,” says Bouchard. “They are also for those that want to get help for a significant other or friend and also for those that have lost someone to suicide.”

Donate to support Léandre Bouchard’s cross Canada ride at the ride event page. You can follow more of the trip through Bouchard’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

If you or someone you know needs help, there are resources available now.

In Quebec, you can call or text 1-866-APPELLE (277-3553) or Suicide.ca. For service in english or for Canadians outside of Quebec, call 1-833-456-4566 or text 45645. More details for Quebec residents is available on the government’s information page.