Jeremy Steenberg, Rachelle Clayton of the Killaloe and Area Lions Club and Ish Theilheimer of OVCATA make plans for the first-ever Tour de BeaverTails in Killaloe, Ontario.
A brand new rally event will put a sweet twist on raising support for vision care in the Ottawa Valley.
The Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance and Killaloe Lions Club are teaming with BeaverTails for the first ever Tour de BeaverTails, which expects to bring in over 200 riders and hikers to the area on July 28th to celebrate the international franchise invented in the historic village back in the late 1970’s.
OVCATA Director Ish Theilheimer, who has been friends with BeaverTails founders Grant and Pam Hooker since the 1970s when they started their food business at the Killaloe Craft and Community Fair, says that they “thought combining a treat with healthy exercise would be a great way to encourage participation” in one of four routes through town.
Lions Club Vice President Rachelle Clayton says the rally fits perfectly with their own Ottawa Valley Vision project, as there are a lot of residents, “especially school kids, who struggle with sight problems without even knowing it.”
She adds that “early detection in school-age children can alleviate all sorts of learning problems, and the Killaloe Lions are raising money to purchase an eye refractor machine and train community volunteers to go into area schools, senior centres, and other identified groups to conduct vision screening.”
The event will be attended by Jeremy Steenberg, a blind athlete from Killaloe who now works with the blind community to encourage participation in sports. “I try to encourage visually impaired people to get active. Forty percent of blind people don’t go out at all,” he says. Steenberg has also been invited to be the spokesperson for the Killaloe Lions’ Ottawa Valley Vision Project.
Volunteers from OVCATA will be supervising rides and water stations along four routes through town, including:
- The Around the Town Classic is a 5-kilometre walk or an 11-kilometre family ride.
- The Beaver Tails Beauty is a 63-kilometre road ride through beautiful rolling terrain.
- Railraod Gravel-A-Rama, a 50-kilometre ride for gravel riders out the railway and then into the hills.
- The Killaloe Sunrise Spectacular, a hilly, 97-kilometre ride through Rockingham, Combermere, Foymount, and Cormac.
All rides start and end in Station Park in downtown Killaloe.
“This is some of the best riding anywhere, and we’re proud to share it with visitors,” says Theilheimer. “And the partnership with BeaverTails and the Killaloe and Area Lions means that the proceeds go to an extremely worthy cause.”
Everyone taking part in the day also gets lunch and a BeaverTail after the ride, and riders get a commemorative T-shirt.
Registration is $75 for adults and $35 for youth (13–18) and walkers. To get a t-shirt, riders must register online a month in advance.
(written by Kasey Egan)