When Bolton-raised Filipe Masetti Leite arrived in Barretos, Sao Paulo with his horses in 2014 after more than two years in the saddle – he was sure that he would never set off on another Long Ride in his life.
He had travelled more than 15,000 km with three horses from the Calgary Stampede, all along the way dealing with an immense amount of physical and mental stress, and now, he is setting off to finish the Americas in a trek ‘to the end of the world.’
But why?
“When I arrived in Barretos, the organizers of the rodeo took me to visit the Barretos Cancer Hospital,” he told The Enterprise. “This state of the art facility treats thousands of Brazilians every year for free.”
This is a country, he says, where the public health-care system is in shambles with people dying frequently due to a lack of doctors and supplies available.
“I was so inspired by what I saw in that hospital that from the moment I walked out of its doors, a little voice began to go off in my head saying, ‘how can I help?’”
The Robert F. Hall alumni, who has been living in Brazil with his family since he arrived from his first long ride in 2014, began his journey today with a crowd of fans in tow to ride to Ushuaia, Argentina – the southernmost tip of South America.
“I will depart from the Barretos Cancer Hospital and ride 8,000 kilometres through southern Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.”
He expects the trip to take about a year in total, and plans to raise money and awareness for the hospital along the way.
Just as during his ‘Long Ride Home’ from Calgary to Brazil, Leite will film everything himself with it streamed in real time through outwildtv.com, the Lonely Planet’s production company.
He will also be writing a monthly series for the Toronto Star, and his adventures will be documented on social media along the way.
“I’m excited to document the kindness of people who help me along the way, the growing connection to the new horses I will ride, the culture of the places I visit, the ranches I visit and how they raise their animals and treat the land,” he said.
Leite says that during his first journey, he spent a lot of time thinking about Terry Fox and his story.
“It is the first story I remember hearing when I migrated to Canada at the age of 9,” he said. “Terry’s resiliency, power, character, charisma…I was extremely inspired by what he did for Cancer research and continues to do today through the Terry Fox Foundation.”
Several times throughout the first journey, Leite says that he when he thought he wouldn’t make it, he would think about Terry and his run.
“It always gave me the power to continue on,” he said. “All of this started tugging at my heart and faith put me back in the saddle.”
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