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Ride For Dad supports fight against prostate cancer

Father’s Day may be past, but motorcyclists will still be out on a Ride For Dad on Saturday.The fifth annual Rural Alberta Ride For Dad will take place on the weekend, with hundreds of bikers taking to Central Alberta roads in support of the fight against prostate cancer.

Father’s Day may be past, but motorcyclists will still be out on a Ride For Dad on Saturday.

The fifth annual Rural Alberta Ride For Dad will take place on the weekend, with hundreds of bikers taking to Central Alberta roads in support of the fight against prostate cancer.

This year’s edition will feature two routes — one taking riders from Red Deer to Rocky Mountain House, then south to Olds and Didsbury; the other going from Olds to Drumheller and back.

Riders will pass through 27 communities along the routes, stopping for poker runs and to drum up support.

Juno award-winning country singer Clayton Bellamy will serve as the celebrity ride captain.

The ride started in Ottawa in 2000 and now is held in more than 30 cities across Canada, with over $10 million raised in its history.

The Rural Alberta chapter has raised over $500,000 in five years and this year’s goal is to bring in $200,000.

Money raised this year will go toward the research of Dr. John Lewis at Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute.

Organizer Dean Harper said he simply hopes anyone seeing the riders on Saturday will give them a wave, a simple gesture of support that he said goes a long way.

As part of the end of the day ceremonies to be held in Didsbury, the mobile Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing Man Van will be present for any men, participants or not, wishing to be screened free of charge. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect Canadian men — one in seven will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.

As part of this year’s ride, organizers have a Bring the Buddy or Bring the Bucks contest.

Any past rider who brings someone new to the ride or anyone who raises $600 for the cause will be entered to win a weekend in Banff and Jasper.

The day will kick off with registration and a free breakfast from 8 to 9 a.m., with both rides setting off at 9:30 a.m. sharp.

The two rides will come together in Olds around 4 p.m., where they will get a police escort for the final stretch down Hwy 2A to Didsbury.

The Red Deer ride will leave from the Gasoline Alley Harley-Davidson (37 Petrolia Road), while in Olds the departure point is the Walmart parking lot at 6900 46th St.

Registration for the ride is $30.

For more information, contact Harper at 403-556-8050 or ruralalbertamrfd@gmail.com.

To learn more about the initiative, visit www.ridefordad.ca.