A week’s postponement doesn’t dampen spirits of ATV riders

Craig Bakay | May 15, 2019

Flooding, washouts, impassable trails and terrible conditions forced the postponement of the Spring ATV Ride for Dad in Ompah for a week, but even though it corresponded with the Mother’s Day weekend, organizers were still pleased that about 400 drivers and passengers that came out last Saturday.

Byron Smith of Ride for Dad said they’ve been coming up here for about eight years and even though numbers were down slightly this year, it’s still important to them.

“It’s important for us to get word to smaller communities,” Smith said. “The big attraction to this event is that so many participate.

“We get guys coming to us saying that because of this event, they got their prostate checked and it was caught in time.”

He said they still got plenty of pledges and sold some memorabilia.

“All the money we raise goes right into cutting edge research,” he said. “We don’t put any money into bricks and mortar.”

And even though the event had to be put off for a week, it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the participants.

“It was fun, and for a good cause,” said Beverly Bulman, who lives in Bailieboro but has a cottage in the area.

“I’ll go anywhere to ride a trail like this one,” said Roger Rocha of Ottawa.