Alpe d’Huez. It’s a mountain well known to cyclists that’s made Tour de France riders, and broken them. Rising more than 6,000 feet over 8.6 miles of road with a gradient ranging from 8-13%, not to mention 21 hairpin turns, it’s defined as a Hors Categorie climb–“beyond categorization”–because it’s so hard the difficulty exceeds the normal 1-4 rating scale.
On June 2nd, Marjolein and her Shapeways sponsored team are going to ride and run it not once, not twice, but 20 times between the six of them over the course of one day as part of the Alpe D’HuZes, a fundraiser for the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF). The team’s goal: to raise 15.000 Euros. This is a very personal ride for Marjolein and her boyfriend Lucien as both of their mothers had cancer.
Marjolein and her mom
“Christmas 2012, my mom got cancer,” Marjolein writes. “It was as if our world collapsed. Fear, anger, disbelief, uncertainty, and even sometimes laughter and happiness after some ‘good’ news, were the main emotions of the rollercoaster we as family were on. Now that she’s kicked cancer, the only thing left is the life lesson learned that you can take nothing for granted.
“Lucien’s mom was also confronted with cancer. The most positive and powerful woman I have ever met, she did not survive and passed away last summer. This made Lucien decide that there are many things we can’t do against cancer, simply because we’re not doctors and do not have the knowledge to cure it, but there are also many things we can do. One of them is raising money for research programs so doctors can gain more and new insights to fight this terrible disease.
“Lucien told his mom he was going to do the Alpe d’HuZes for her; I decided to join for her and my own mom. Then my mom and dad and our good friends Thijs and Imma joined our team. Now we train a lot and do loads of activities to collect money to support our goal. Shapeways is one of our major sponsors to reach the top for which we are very grateful.”
We are proud to support their efforts, and of course that support includes 3D printing. They’ll all have 3D printed water bottle holders for their bikes and rose gold plated ribbon pins to wear in honor of Marjolein’s and Lucien’s moms. Marjolein will also wear a GoPro to document her three rides up the mountain thanks to a 3D printed GoPro attachment. And yes, of course we’ll share the footage and the story of their inspiring fundraising ride come June.
Join us in supporting their efforts:
- Follow their training and ride on Instagram @vleut.en.velo.
- Donate in support of their team at https://deelnemers.opgevenisgeenoptie.nl/wilmarion.