Do you have the legs to take on this 24 hour Zwift marathon fundraiser?

On March 12, 2021, one year to the day from Toronto entering its first lockdown, cyclists from Canada and around the world will clip in to their trainers and ride a full 24 hours raising funds to tackle the mental health toll of the pandemic.

Crush COVID

When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Canada last year, Ontario elite racing team Toronto Hustle wanted to help its local hospital. The group organized Crush COVID, a 24-hour virtual cycling marathon in order to raise funds for Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital’s Emergency Response Fund.

The fundraiser was extremely successful, raising $250,000 and drawing support from cyclists and sponsors from around the world, with one Toronto Hustle rider breaking a world record as well.

RELATED: How Travis Samuel broke a world record and got through 24 hours on the trainer

Ride for Mind

This year, the Crush COVID 24-hour virtual cycling marathon will return, but the event will focus on mental health.  The 2021 Crush COVID: Ride for Mind will “highlight the pandemic’s growing mental health impact and the transformative power of communities finding new ways to connect and inspire action during the pandemic.”

The organizers are aiming to draw particular attention to how the pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations—particularly within racialized communities, youth, and those living in poverty. There are above average rates of COVID-19 infection in these communities, which has only compounded the deep existing disparities in mental health outcomes for vulnerable groups.

As with the first Crush COVID event, the funds raised from the 24-hour trainer ride will go to the Michael Garron Hospital’s mental health programs, which provide inpatient and outpatient care to nearly 10,000 community members each year. The programs provide care to more low-income and racialized individuals and families than any other hospital in the central Toronto region.

“Last year’s Crush COVID event exemplified the extraordinary compassion and generous spirit of the cycling community,” says Mitze Mourinho, president of the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation. “We can’t wait to welcome cyclists from across Toronto and around the world back to this unique virtual event to help address the mental health crisis that has emerged from the pandemic, particularly for the most vulnerable among us.”

Participating in Crush COVID: Ride for Mind

“In 2020, I got through the ride inspired by the incredible sacrifices our frontline workers made in the face of incredible uncertainty,” says Brad Bradford, Toronto City Councillor for Beaches-East York and team principal at Toronto Hustle. “Those sacrifices continue in 2021 and we all have new motivation knowing the toll the pandemic has taken on the mental health and wellbeing of our communities. I’ll be riding for 24-hours again and am encouraging everyone to participate however they can, whether that’s riding all or part of the 24-hours, donating, or simply spreading the word.”

RELATED: The best Canadian cycling challenges of 2020

Bradford will be livestreaming his ride from his official Facebook page. Cyclists who are interested in participating in the Zwift marathon event or who want to make a donation can sign up at crushcovid.ca. Riders can choose to join a group and take on the 24 hours as a relay team, or go at it entirely as an individual. The ride is cleverly scheduled for Friday, Mar. 12, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. EST to Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021 at 6:00, so that participants will have all of Sunday to recover from their all-nighters.

“The mental health and addiction crises in our communities have only deepened during the pandemic,” says Bradford. “Crush COVID: Ride for Mind is a way for us to come together virtually and shine a light on these issues, and tackle them at the place and scale with the deepest impact, right here in the community.”