More than 250 cheering kids greeted the Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley team as they rolled into Dr. Roberta Bondar Elementary School Tuesday.

And one special kid, Grade 2 student and junior team member Sidney Neufeld was greeted with an ovation from her peers.

Neufeld, a brain cancer survivor, rode in a van with the team on their Mission to Abbotsford leg Tuesday morning.

She and her new cop friends were cheered by the entire student body that lined up in front of the school and stretched to touch the hands of the cyclists as they rode in.

Later Neufeld gave each cyclist a string of beads along with a playful squirt of liquid string for their efforts.

The Tour de Valley riders visited several Abbotsford schools this week including Bondar, St. John Brebeuf Secondary, Auguston Traditional, Sandy Hill Elementary, Chief Dan George Middle, Rick Hansen Secondary and Ross Elementary on Wednesday before rolling out of town.

Mission RCMP Const. Christine Day hadn't done much bike riding before last year's tour.

This year the demanding 800-kilometre trek over nine days, took cyclists from Langley to Boston Bar then back again.

"It's physically very challenging and required a lot of training to get ready for it," she said. "I originally did it because my mother had breast cancer 11 years ago."

Now she does it for the kids.

The Cops for Cancer bike ride raises dollars to support pediatric cancer research.

Since its inception 15 years ago, the Canadian Cancer Society's Cops for Cancer campaign has raised more that $27 million for childhood cancer research and support programs.

"It all made me realize how difficult it is for children to fight this disease," said Day. "And how important it is to continue to work towards a cure."

-with files from Rochelle Baker