
Pictured: Kenzie Lewis and Logan Berkvens
Logan Berkvens is this year’s team captain of the Against All Odds BMO Ride for Cancer team (pictured below). He’s joined by his fiancée, Kenzie Lewis, and close friends, Jennifer Flynn and Cale Wadden. The four will be cycling 100 kilometres via road in this year’s BMO Ride for Cancer; Atlantic Canada’s largest cycling fundraiser and the #5 peer-to-peer cycling event in all of Canada.
All four members of their team have been touched by cancer in one way or another, including Kenzie whose family has experienced lots of cancer-related illness over the past couple of years.
“I lost my cousin at a very young age due to liver cancer, lost my Nana to lung cancer, and lost my aunt recently to another illness but she fought breast cancer in the last five years,” Kenzie explains, highlighting why BMO Ride for Cancer is so personal for her.
The annual cycling event combines Kenzie and Logan’s passion for giving back and keeping active. The pair are half-marathon runners who exercise daily and can often be found playing golf or training for their next physical challenge or adventure.
But it’s the hyper-local impact created by BMO Ride for Cancer that ultimately keeps them coming back year-after-year. Logan, born and raised in Nova Scotia, has lived here his entire life. His background includes eight years of service as a combat systems engineering technician and diver in the navy and a nearly decade-long career in realty.
For both he and Kenzie, who moved to the East Coast from Toronto many years ago, making a difference in the community they call home is incredibly important. Their support of BMO Ride for Cancer as riders and ambassadors is just one way to do that.
The annual event and its participants, like Kenzie and Logan, rally their networks each year to help fund cancer-fighting technology that will directly impact patients who receive care at the region’s largest and most specialized cancer treatment centre, the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
Logan uses videos and vlogs leading up to BMO Ride day as a way of raising money and promoting the event and credits his family, friends, and colleagues who have “always been very supportive” of his efforts. Other fundraising initiatives led by the couple include spin and pilates classes and dedicating sales at the grocery franchise they own together.
This year’s BMO Ride proceeds will be funding liquid biopsy technology at the QEII that will determine if a patient’s cancer is cured after surgery, if it has returned, and if so, how to best treat it; it’s a cause that deeply motivates the pair and the Against All Odds team.
“Each year when you see what the community has fundraised for and made possible for future patients and families, it’s just amazing,” says Logan.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Kenzie who, like Logan, has participated in BMO Ride for Cancer for the past three years.
“Raising awareness, money, and doing the ride myself is extremely important to me,” she says.

Pictured: Kenzie (left) with Logan
Logan describes the feeling of accomplishment on BMO Ride event day, encompassing everything from physically riding and smashing their team’s fundraising goals to being a part of a collective movement that literally saves lives.
“It’s a really cool thing to see everyone come together to help improve local cancer treatment and care,” says Logan, explaining the impact it ultimately creates for those we know and love. With Nova Scotia facing the highest cancer rates in Canada, it reinforces the crucial need for events like BMO Ride for Cancer, which has raised over $10.3 million net for cancer care at the QEII.
“Seeing all the work that has gone into fundraising this money and the difference that makes in someone’s personal journey and experience with cancer, really puts it all into perspective,’’ he shares.
Cycling 100 kilometres is difficult for even the most seasoned riders, but Logan and Kenzie know cancer patients and their families have faced far tougher times. They’re ready, willing and able to rise to the challenge for the good of those affected by this disease and feel well-prepared for this year’s BMO Ride.
“I can’t tell you how much I hated doing 100 kilometres on a bike,” Logan laughs. “But I sign up every year because it’s the right thing to do. I’m excited to do it…it’s a big deal.’’
As explain Kenzie explains, “it’s an incredible cause that’s close to our hearts.”
This story is powered by: