Following more than 250 hours of training, 46 cyclists will next week set off on a 1,200-kilometre ride from Denmark to Poland to raise funds for cancer research.
The group leaves Malta on July 7, and then cycle from Copenhagen to Warsaw, passing through Berlin, in Germany, and covering some 170kms every day.
As in previous years, the Remax Alive 2017 Cycling Challenge will be raising funds for medical research in Malta.
The Alive Charity Foundation was the first NGO to start raising funds for such research.
It all started on June 29, 2012, when Elton Barry suffered three heart attacks.
Speaking to this newspaper on the fifth anniversary of the incident, Mr Barry explained that when discharged from the hospital he was inspired to leave a legacy that benefited others.
He decided to use his hobby – cycling – to give something back to the community, and approached three of his friends – Nicky Camilleri, Miriam Abela Orland and Gerth Lapira.
Together they set up the foundation.
Since then, they succeeded in raising €335,000 for research, and in collaboration with the Remax and Friends Foundation also invested €80,000 in a recreation centre for children at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre.
This is the fifth year that the cycling challenge is being held, and the collected funds will go towards the Alive Research Programme, set up in collaboration with the University of Malta for cancer-related research.
Mr Barry, who lost his father-in-law Paul Buttigieg to cancer, aged 57, told the Times of Malta that everybody knew somebody with cancer, whether family or friends.
The foundation, he added, had opted to fund research because it believed in the country’s potential.
For the first time this year, the challenge will include a mountain bike trail and a separate road bike route.
The participants have already cycled 5,100 km (or the distance between Malta and Pakistan) to gear up for the challenge over the past 17 weeks (254 hours).
Those who would like to help the foundation raise funds can log on www.alivecharity.com for more details.
Photos and updates will be uploaded daily on Facebook page ALIVE Charity Foundation, and there will also be a live tracker on the foundation’s website.