Ride for Dad participants burning into Dawson City
Ride for Dad is back for another summer of fundraising and fun.
Lift your kickstands and start your engines–Ride for Dad is roaring into town.
One of the Yukon’s most popular fundraisers, Ride for Dad’s annual motorcycle rally helps raise money for prostate cancer research and awareness. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada, according to Health Canada. One in nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.
This year, the fundraiser will be doing the Tagish Loop (a triangle that runs up the Alaska Highway to Jake’s Corners, cuts through Tagish and then swings back to Whitehorse via Carcross). In previous years, the group has gone as far as Dawson, but they’re sticking close to home this year in order to limit their impact on the communities during the pandemic, says organizer Sean Secord.
As with everything, Ride for Dad’s motorcycle rally has been impacted by the social restrictions COVID-19 has made necessary, and this year’s rally will see a lot of the precautions put in place last year, including handwashing, masks in close spaces, and staying “one motorcycle length apart”, says Secord.
The Ride for Dad motorcycle rally usually happens in June, but Secord says they decided to delay the event until August, as they did last year, to help protect Yukoners from COVID, which was on the upswing at the time.
“We’ve been really fortunate here in the Yukon,” says Secord. “We’re one of the only chapters in the country that has been able to have a COVID-safe gathering.”
The fundraiser kicks at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 6 at Shipyard’s Park in Whitehorse, with family fun and bike games. Food will be available through food trucks, which allows people to safely socially distance and serve themselves, says Secord, as well as supporting local businesses. On Saturday, Aug. 7, the relay kicks off with a parade through the downtown at 11 a.m, after which time the riders hit the road and head out.
Riders can pre-register on Aug.6. Registration is tiered, starting at $35, although Secord notes that for $65 you also get a t-shirt and other goodies.
Registration fees only cover the costs of organizing the ride, he notes. Ride for Dad hopes to raise between $20,000 and $40,000 by ride day, which is consistent with previous years.
If you can’t make it out to the official rally, Secord says people can still participate in the “Ride Alone Together” (RAT) rally’s, in which people ride solo to raise money for the group, and riders are encouraged to do that “all summer long.”
For more information about Ride For Dad and prostate cancer research and awareness, visit https://ridefordad.ca.
