Aiming to provide an example of this, an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) participated in “La Boucle Vidéotron” as part of the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie (GDPL) on Saturday.
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“Health and physical activity are two things that are very important to me. It's important to promote it, and if I can be a role model or an inspiration to Canadians I will do that,” said Joshua Kotric, who is originally from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.
The route, which began at 8 a.m. on the Quebec Bridge, allowed him, as well as several thousand participants, to cover a distance of 135 kilometers while visiting seven towns in the Capitale Nacional and Chaudière-Appalachian regions.
“exceptional”
It was also the first participation in the event for a man who says he has a particular fondness for Quebec since his time with the 425th Tactical Support Squadron in Bagotville when he was a CF-18 pilot from 2007 to 2011.
Astronaut Joshua Kotric | Image courtesy/CSA
The 42-year-old is currently preparing for the Starliner-1 mission, during which he will spend about six months aboard the International Space Station to conduct scientific experiments and test new technologies. He also wanted to thank Pierre Lavoie and the organization.
“This is not my first event of this kind, but it was truly exceptional. It is a great organizational work and has a great impact on society,” concluded the man who will be the first astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency to be part of NASA's commercial crewed missions program.
Lots of pride
For his part, Pierre Lavoie said he was very happy to see such a large participation in the event, which returned after a break last year.
“It's a big comeback because when you skip a year you never know if people will come back, but we always treat everyone like elite and they remember that. They appreciate that and are bringing it back to us today,” he explains.
Pierre Lavoie arrives at Laval University Didier Debuscher/Journal de Québec
He also wanted to point out that many new young cyclists have joined the event this year, which makes him very proud as many of them have undoubtedly been participating in the Energy Cube Challenge since 2009 and have maintained their healthy lifestyle habits ever since.
“Many of those who created the Energy Cubes are today journalists, teachers, doctors and we groomed them. They started coming in and fueling the movement, and that is the vision I had at the time, which was that these young people would one day become adults and that they would continue to move the wheel.”
