On April 3, Mathilde Michel and Morgan Haut leave on a journey that will take them from Tofino, Vancouver Island, to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Mathilde will travel by bike transporting most of the equipment. Morgan risks wearing out several pairs of shoes as he scooters his way along the 8,000 km that this young couple from France is planning to travel.

The couple also wants to raise awareness among 18- to 35-year-olds of donating stem cells, also called bone marrow donations, and at the same time of the Lucio association. The association was created with the goal of collecting donations for research into pediatric cancers, particularly leukemia, and to provide financial assistance to the families of sick children.

“Stem cell donation is not well known,” Mathilde explains. “Our objective is to draw attention to this kind of donation, which can be life-saving, mainly for people suffering from leukemia.”

“We are trying to draw attention to and demystify this type of donation by doing this journey. Social media allow us to reach the age group that interests us, because to register on the Donor Registry, you have to be between 18 and 35,” Morgan explains.

There’s a record to be broken

Why choose a scooter for such a long journey? Well, the Guinness record for the longest scooter trek, done in Japan in 2020, is 7,100 km. Crossing Canada will allow Morgan, a seasoned cyclist and amateur scooter-rider, to create a new Guinness record and by the same token, make better known the cause they care about, particularly through the traditional media.

The couple, whose visa expires in November, have to complete their expedition in a little over six months. The itinerary is already planned right down to the smallest detail and the two adventurers hope to be able to cover at least 40 km per day.

“I had a discussion with someone who had travelled from Halifax to Vancouver with the same scooter and I realized that it was doable,” Morgan notes. “He started off doing 40 km per day and very quickly was able to do 100, and even 140.”

As background, Mathilde and Morgan met at Tremblant Ski Resort when Mathilde was working at the Petite Maison Bleue and Morgan at the Queue de Castor. Mathilde, who had never really done any biking, mentions that it was love at first sight. “So much so, in fact, that she’s following me in this adventure,” says Morgan, laughing.

You can follow the travels of Mathilde and Morgan on Facebook and Instagram.

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