Following Ben's Lead
Colleen Klatt rides the Ben Farrant Memorial Ride
in memory of her brother
When Colleen Klatt (’00) lost her brother Ben Farrant (’02) in a tragic cycling accident two years ago, she asked God a lot of “why” questions.
“When something like that happens, you just ask ‘why now, in the prime of his life?’” she recounts. Riding the second annual Ben Farrant Memorial Cyclathon this summer with her husband, Jason, “opened the book of answers a little,” Colleen says. “I got to see one page of the story, how Ben’s life is still making a difference.”
Colleen was one of 25 cyclists who mounted their bikes at dawn on July 12, and set out to ride the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic in support of the Wellspring Foundation for Education in Rwanda, and in memory of Ben, who participated in mountain biking and racing throughout his life. Ben was training for the Seattle to Portland Classic the day of his accident, so this particular ride seemed an appropriate way for his friends to honour his memory.
In 2002, Ben and a group of friends from TWU traveled through Africa and encountered the country of Rwanda and the devastation left by the genocide. “His heart went out for the country,” Colleen remembers. “He wanted to do something to make a difference.” His good friends and traveling companions, Richard Taylor and Jeffrey Komant, would start the Wellspring Foundation for Education soon after, asking Ben to serve as a board member. He worked tirelessly for the Foundation, visiting Rwanda a second time in 2005 to assist in building the Foundation’s first primary school and providing much-needed it support. Today, a brand new playground in Rwanda, built by Ben’s Surrey, B.C. church, bears his name. It’s just a small part of the legacy the memorial ride honours.
For the second year in a row, riders raised funds to support the school, equipment, and teacher education Wellspring provides. Not all donations have yet been counted, but this year’s current total is at an impressive $37,000.
Though the ride was taxing, Colleen says there were beautiful moments – riding by the Cascade Mountains and camping overnight as a team. And she’ll always remember crossing the finish line and receiving the Classic badge, which she had seen in her brother’s room a few years before.
“He always said I needed to do this ride with him,” she remembers. “It’s pretty amazing that a person’s life can go on in this way.”
For more information about the Ben Farrant Memorial Cyclathon check out thewellspringfoundation.com.
by Veronica Collins ('06)
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