Riders will be riding up Cypress Mountain beginning at the junction of Cypress Bowl Road and Cypress Lane and finishing at the Cypress Mountain Lodge.
100% funds raised will support North Shore Rescue and other Rotary projects. This year there will be two rides, one on road and another on mountain bike trails.
Mountain bike start is 8:30 a.m., road bike start is 9 a.m.
Register now at www.rotaryrideforrescue.org
Tim Jones (1956-2014), Advanced Life Support Paramedic and Search and Rescue Technican, was a prominent media spokesperson and team leader for North Shore Rescue in Vancouver, British Columbia. He made significant contributions to the field of Search and Rescue and was an outspoken advocate for wilderness safety
Shortly after becoming a substitute teacher, Jones started working part-time with the British Columbia Ambulance Service. Since part-timers were required to be on-call, he sometimes spent nights sleeping at the station so he would not be late for a call. Jones progressed to working full-time as a paramedic in the Downtown Eastside. While raising a young family and working night shifts, Jones completed several advanced training certifications. He became an advanced life-support paramedic and, in 1990, was appointed unit chief in North Vancouver where he remained until his death in 2014.
Jones started with the all volunteer North Shore Rescue team as a resource member in the early 1990s, assisting the team in his role as an advanced life support paramedic. Once he became a member of the team, he recognized the need for a professional and well equipped service on the north shore and across the province and started to fundraise and advocate for the change. In his efforts building a the search and rescue team, Jones would often work 50 hours a week in addition to his paid job as a paramedic.
Through his work as a search and rescue team member, Jones saved over 1600 lives in his decades of service. Additionally, he was instrumental in North Shore Rescue becoming the first British Columbia search and rescue team to implement the Helicopter Flight Rescue System also known as HETS. He was also involved with building a communications system, fundraising for several rescue vehicles and a rescue base.
Through his work with the media Jones advocated for search and rescue volunteers across the province. Jones lobbied government for adequate funding and recognition of its volunteers.
In 2014 the federal government of Canada recognized Jones in the budget by dedicating a national search and rescue volunteer tax credit in his name.
