ABOUT US

OUR GOAL AND MISSION

The goal of the Energy Cubes Challenge is to encourage kids to be more active and to adopt healthy life habits that will become the norm for future generations.
Making a difference, one Cube at a time!
The Energy Cubes Challenge is organized by the Canadian non-profit organization the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie. Our mission is to create a culture of preventive health care by encouraging people of all ages to adopt healthy life habits. To achieve this, many events and programs, such as the Energy Cubes Challenge, are organized every year by the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie to create an active society.
1,000 km Event - Cycling Marathon
La Course Event - 250 km Running Relay for High School Students
La Boucle Event - 135 km Cycling Event
La Grande Marche Event - 5 KM Walk in more than 100 different cities

HOW DID IT START?

In 1997, Pierre Lavoie was 34 years old when he lost his daughter Laurie to lactic acidosis, a rare hereditary illness especially present in the region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, in the Province of Quebec, Canada. In 2000, his son Raphaël also died from the disease. The year Raphaël was born, in 1998, ten other children were born with lactic acidosis in the region. Pierre decided to devote all his energy to raising awareness of this deadly condition among people in his region and to funding medical research. Already a determined athlete, having completed the Ironman Hawaii several times, Pierre became an engaged athlete.

In 1999, he launched the first Défi Pierre Lavoie in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, cycling 650 km in 24 hours, a feat he repeated three times. With his event, Pierre collected enough funds to form a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Important breakthroughs were made, and the gene responsible for lactic acidosis was finally found in 2003. A screening test was also developed, thereby giving hope to future parents.

During that period, Pierre noticed the keen interest students had in his event. This gave him the idea to work with schools to create an event for kids. This event, launched as part of the fourth edition of the Défi Pierre Lavoie, enabled young people to bike with Pierre as he passed through their municipality, in the middle of the day or night, and participate in a magical, unforgettable experience. To prepare for this event, the children had to enroll their school and commit to doing three 15-minute sessions of physical activity per week for a period of one month. The concept of an Energy Cube was born!

Pierre built upon the success of these activities to embark on an ambitious project aimed at encouraging Quebec elementary school students, as well as the general public, to adopt healthy life habits. The Grand défi Pierre Lavoie and the Energy Cubes Challenge, one of its inaugural programs, were launched in 2009 in the Province of Québec, Canada. The Energy Cubes Challenge was an instant success, and has grown in magnitude and popularity every year. Today more than 80% of students from Quebec elementary schools participate in the challenge with their schools and families year after year!

To learn more about the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie, its founders and all of its programs, visit https://www.legdpl.com/en