Twenty-five years of memories will be celebrated this Saturday when Big Brothers Big Sisters of Williams Lake hosts its 25th and final Tour de Cariboo fundraiser.
The 76-kilometre bike trek from Williams Lake to Gavin Lake, plus a day of rest and relaxation to follow, will be missed — especially by some of its long-time participants.
Williams Lake resident Betty Donahue has cycled the Tour de Cariboo for all 25 of those years, beginning in 1993 with the first of what would become the annual event.
“I’m going to miss it,” Donahue said. “It gives me a reason to get out on my bike and to train each year. You have to train to do this, and it’s easy to get lazy and to find excuses not to ride. Each year it seems to get longer and steeper. That and I really enjoy the social aspect of it.”
Thinking back on some of her memories riding the Tour de Cariboo, Donahue points to an event that took place in 1994.
“The first year the weather was just beautiful, and then the next year we had rain and sleet, and by the time you got to Big Lake going down that hill it was so cold.”
At the Big Lake Store, a hot dog rotisserie had been setup to serve food to participants along the route.
“Everybody was huddled around that thing trying to get some heat from it,” she laughed. “Then there were some ambulance personnel there, and they were handing out blankets to warm riders up, so that was a tough year, but most years we’ve really lucked out when you think how many years it’s been happening.”
Asked whether she ever intended to participate each year, Donahue said it just sort of turned out that way.
“It became an annual event, and then it sort of became a badge of honour, and it just carried on,” she said.
“There were about five of us who had done about 20 of them.”
Some people moved away, others started aging, or health issues presented themselves, Donahue said, and now she will be the last one to have completed each Tour de Cariboo.
“There was one year I was going to be away on the day of the tour, so I actually went out two weeks in advance and did the ride on my own,” she said. “It wasn’t nearly as much fun as doing it with the group. It really is a fun event, and you feel like you’re a part of something important for the community, and the volunteers are incredible. You’re treated like kings and queens.”
Other riders who have participated in multiple years of the tour include John Pickford, Darcy Lazzarin, Ivor McMahen, Ken Brown, Mark Savard, Mike Levitt, Tory Kier, Ann Smith and Roger Solly, to name a few.
Solly, now 76, rode the first 17 years of the event.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “It certainly went to a good cause, there’s lots of camaraderie on the road between the riders, and I think the community supported it well.
“It was a time to get out and see people you don’t see all that often. You meet with and talk with different people on the road as the day progressed.”
For those who think they’re capable of the bike ride to Gavin Lake, BBBSWL executive director Melissa Newberry, and Tour de Cariboo organizer, said they’ll still be taking registration right up until the morning of the race. Currently, roughly 30 riders are registered.
“We’ll be there [at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex] at 7 a.m., and people can still sign up on the day,” Newberry said. “The expectation is you raise $100 so if you haven’t raised any money yet we hope people can support us with that, but they can come down and register on the day, and we hope to get the riders going by 8:30 or 9 a.m.”
Once riders arrive at Gavin Lake there will be a catered dinner, entertainment, presentations and a draw prize giveaway for two Westjet tickets to anywhere in the world.
Tickets for the draw are still available by messaging BBBSWL on its Facebook page.
In the Tour de Cariboo’s 25-year existence, Newberry said hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised locally to help BBBSWL programming.
For more information call BBBSWL at 250-398-8391.
