Sixteen dedicated riders took to the roads on Saturday afternoon to conquer the first annual Tour de Lakeland.
The event was organized not just as a way to encourage physical activity, but to promote community spirit by bringing the multicultural region together in harmony, says Dolu Ashani, organizer of the Tour de Lakeland.
“We are looking at making all the communities come together in the atmosphere of peaceful coexistence,” Ashani said. “That is why we are going as far as the reserve, Saddle Lake. We have involved everybody in the community.”
The tour ran smoothly thanks to the support of 19 dedicated volunteers, including assistance from the RCMP, the fire department and peace officers who escorted riders to and from Saddle Lake.
“The way that people have come out to want to volunteer, to want to participate, it shows that we are getting there,” Ashani said. “We will begin to reduce the issue of discrimination, the issue of division, the issue of segregation that seems to be the norm, especially between the aboriginals and the non-aboriginals within this community.”
Ashani’s goal was achieved, as a small melting pot from across northern Alberta gathered at St. Paul’s UFO landing pad to take part in the tour, which took riders on a 60 km trek through Saddle Lake and back.
“We believe that we can project it from here to Alberta, and from Alberta to all of Canada, so that eventually in the years to come, for our generations to come, we see that we can live together peacefully; we can coexist together in the spirit of unity and understanding.”
The winners of the first annual Tour de Lakeland, Bob Bailey and Cathy Tuleck, managed to finish the 60 km endeavor in less than two hours and were awarded with new bicycles for their victories.
Bailey, a member of the Royal Air Force, who recently moved to Cold Lake from Wales to work with the Forces, said he plans to bring more people out for next year’s event.
“The ride out was nice, a bit of a headwind on the way out . . . we had the tailwind on the way home, which was great,” said Bailey, “It was nice to see a town I wouldn’t otherwise have come to.”
Tuleck, who traveled all the way from Edmonton to take part in the tour, said she also hopes to see growth of this event in the coming years.
“It was a great day, well organized. It was a lot of fun with great participants,” Tuleck said. “(More people should) definitely come out and do it, just to meet some new people and get to know your fellow community members.”
In an act of selflessness that exemplified the event’s theme of community spirit, Tuleck donated her prize back to the organizers to be used a prize for next year’s event.
A third bicycle was awarded to honourary recipient Pat Makokis of Saddle Lake for her community involvement and assistance in organizing the event.
“It was excellent, and really the challenge is for each one of us to get one or two more people next year,” Makokis said.
