MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY — Several dozen participants who joined the Red Deer Motorcycle Ride for Dad prostate cancer research fundraiser recently hit the road and ventured through the county.
On Saturday, Aug. 21, about 40 riders who were accompanied by the ride’s organizers adding up to a convoy of roughly 50, started their one-day trek in Gasoline Alley prior to embarking on a “zigzag” tour through the countryside along secondary highways, said John Kammerer, Red Deer Motorcycle Ride for Dad chairman.
Their pre-selected path brought them through places including Spruce View, James River, Bearberry, Sundre, Bowden, Pine Lake, and Delburne before coming full circle back to Red Deer, he said.
Stopping in Sundre to fuel up their motorcycles following a pit stop at the Bearberry Saloon to fill their bellies, Kammerer expressed gratitude for the local fire department’s escort through town along the Hwy. 27-Main Avenue corridor.
Featuring a mix of veteran as well as less experienced riders, the group’s numbers plunged drastically down to about two dozen last year due to COVID-19. This year’s number of approximately 40 registered riders, although up substantially from last year, remained lower than a previous record of more than 70, he said.
While he couldn’t say how much was raised during the event, which also included a poker rally and a silent auction, Kammerer said the cumulative amount raised for prostate cancer research and awareness by Ride for Dad events, which were originally started in 2000 by a chapter based out of Ottawa, sits at more than $36 million.
“I believe there’s 30-plus chapters across Canada,” he said, adding the rides really “flourished” throughout the country after getting started out east.
Previously associated with the Didsbury Motorcycle Ride for Dad, which has its own event coming up soon, the Red Deer chapter has been around for three years, said Kammerer, who also expressed appreciation for the support of sponsors and everyone else who participated.
All of the monies raised, he said, stay within the province and are allocated to research doctors in Edmonton and Calgary.
