More than 115 children spent part of their day Sunday having fun riding their bikes — all while learning about bicycle safety.
Denise Skarra, the city’s recreation co-ordinator who helped organize the annual event, said it was one of the best attended bike rodeos they’ve ever hosted.
“What a great turnout today,” she said. “This year we moved it to a Sunday and I think that might be preferable for the parents. It’s just amazing, and amazing weather.”
Riders, after checking in at the registration desk, each picked up a check list of stations to complete.
Stations included a bike check, helmet check, figure 8 pattern, pylon weave, slow race, crazy crossroads, hill ride, start and stop, scanning and hand signalling, bike wash and helmet and activity matching game.
The emphasis, of course, was on fun, and how to properly control their bike.
“The help from all the volunteers — we can’t do this without them, and we’ve just had a lot of fun,” said Suzanne Cochrane, the city’s recreation programmer.
“This year we really wanted to promote the use of helmets, and we changed it up so parents do the inspection first and learn about how a helmet is supposed to fit properly.”
Any participant whose helmet was either too small, or didn’t fit properly, was given a new one — free of charge.
Sponsors for the event included: McDonald’s, Success by Six, Canadian Tire, Hub International, Community Policing, Red Shreds Bike and Board Shed, the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District, Youth for Christ and the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
