Teams from Scotia Bank, RBC, Chinook Financial and Bank of Montreal participated in the first big bike ride which left the BCF parking lot around 5:30 p.m.
Teams from CIBC, ATB Financial and Freson Bros. participated in the second big bike ride which left the BCF parking lot around 6:30 p.m.
The Big Bike for Heart and Stroke rolled into Drumheller on Monday August 10.
The 30-seat bike has been coming to Drumheller for four consecutive years and this year raised over $6300 for heart and stroke research.
There were seven teams participating in the event including CIBC, Bank of Montreal, Scotia Bank, Chinook Financial, ATB Financial, RBC and Freson Bros.
The event began at the Badlands Community Facility (BCF), headed south towards Railway Avenue and the downtown area, and then looped back along highway 56 to Riverside Drive and then returned back to the BCF.
“We do (this event) to bring awareness to our cause,” Erynn Biggar, fund development coordinator told the Mail.
“It is a great team builder as well. It is great for any team to get out and do something fun together and get their own heart rates up and of course raise money for heart and stroke,” she said.
Scott Ouellette chose to participate in the event this year because it has helped him in the past. He participated on the RBC team called the Royal Riders.
On April 24, 2008, at the age of 28, Ouellette suffered a massive heart attack. With the help of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Ouellette was able to get a heart transplant on August 15, 2008.
“The doctor, while I was waiting for my transplant, put me on a ventricular assist device machine that was basically running the left side of my heart. The doctor who did the surgery for that machine, his whole career is funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation,” Ouellette told the Mail.
“Without the Heart and Stroke Foundation funding his research, that kind of technology might not have been in Calgary when I had my heart attack and I probably wouldn’t be here. It is all kind of a snowball effect for me. I do a lot of stuff for the heart and stroke and that is part of the reason why I participate in these kinds of events,” he said.
“There is a lot of personal involvement for me because I am actually a survivor of a heart attack. I do a lot more with my time, than with dollars but it is near and dear to my second heart,” Ouellette said with a chuckle.
Ouellette said he has done a few events with the Heart and Stroke Foundation including speeches and participating in the Heart and Stroke Foundation Lottery commercial with his wife last fall.
“It really has effected me in a personal manner more than most, but I almost guarantee that every person in this town knows someone, somewhere that has either a heart issue or (has had) a stroke,” he said.
