Co-captains Marion and Sharen are no strangers to the MS Bike. Team Doug and Marion’s MS Erasers formed 10 years ago and has been growing in number ever since! The team currently has an extraordinary 78 members, and they are hoping to reach 100+ in time for the tour. When asked how they grew their team so large, the enthusiastic Team Captains say it is a matter of friends asking friends and the momentum carries on from there, “We invite someone once and they usually get hooked! It’s kind of addictive team members invite a friend and that friend invites a friend and so on. There are so many smaller groups/families within our team, but once we are at the ride, we all join together and have a blast.”
Marion and Sharen also believe that a contributing factor to their ever-growing team is in large part due to the emphasis they place on having a good time and enjoying the whole experience of the event, “We have lots of fun and great laughs. We aren’t competitive or have eligibility criteria other than raising the fundraising minimum, but as a team we end up raising more! We are also very welcoming of new participants, and have a few team members with MS who add an extra level of motivation for us."
The team has another great recruitment tool as Marion and her husband own Doug and Marion’s Bike Sales and Repairs, a cycling shop based out of Strathroy. “We have members from the Strathroy, London, Waterloo Region, Guelph, Fergus, Woodstock, Barrie and Hamilton area. Doug and Marion’s is great for recruiting new members as they are always promoting the ride in their store. They are so dedicated to giving to the community in everything they do they promote the MS Bike to every customer that comes in,” says Sharen.
For more tips and information on participating as a team, check out the Team Tools page on msbike.ca
