The population of Drumheller grew by 1,000 on Saturday. Coincidentally, the population of bike tires also grew by 2,000 as the Gran Fondo Badlands took to the highways of the valley.
This is the second year the TransRockies Race Series has hosted the event, and it continues to thrive with another year of sold-out attendance.
“It’s sports travel, and it’s a huge market,” said race coordinator Richelle Love. “I personally love Drumheller. I run two events here, and I am obsessed with Drumheller.”
Racers could take on four separate distances from 50-kilometres up to a 163-kilometre trek. These take riders through the river valley as well as the scenic Badlands, including a trip across the Bleriot Ferry. While traffic has insnarled the community with construction on the Gordon Taylor Bridge, with race times starting at 7:30 a.m., cyclists were able to cross with no issues or effects to traffic.
“Everest Construction was absolutely incredible in the whole process of making that nice and smooth. We had meetings with Alberta Transportation along with the project manager from the Town of Drumheller, and everybody was just so supportive and incredible in making that happen and getting the athletes across in an appropriate, safe manner,” said Love.
The race has evolved over the years, and it is now truly a destination event for riders who are coming from all over to challenge the Badlands.
“Drumheller is a destination, and I love nothing more than when I hear participants say ‘I haven’t been here since I was a child, It’s gorgeous here, I need to come back more,’” she said. “I had a couple from Wisconsin come up just for this event that had found it through some marketing. We had another fellow from Toronto. He saw it come up on his Instagram feed. He said that looks like an epic, pretty incredible place to ride a bike.'”
She adds they are continuing to grow and improve the event. This year, they added live music for racers when they crossed the finish line.
“We love it, and we have plans to expand our offerings next year into the Friday night… just to get more of that feel. We want to encourage people to spend more time in Drumheller and get more of the businesses involved.”

A Saskatchewan man was arrested and charged with driving with nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, with two children in the vehicle.
On June 27, at approximately 3:45 p.m., Drumheller RCMP officers responded to reports of a single-vehicle collision on township road 300 approximately one kilometre west of Highway 56.
It was reported that a pickup truck pulling a holiday trailer lost control while traveling eastbound and entered the ditch resulting in the holiday trailer rolling. It was further reported that there was no indications of injuries and the driver left the scene of the accident in the pickup truck later determined to be a 2015 black Dodge Ram.
RCMP members responded and initiated a search for the suspect vehicle. In short order, the vehicle was located and stopped on Bridge Street near Grove Avenue in Drumheller.
Officers found that the vehicle was not only occupied by the suspect driver, but also by two children aged five and two. As the result of obvious signs of impairment, the driver was subject to an alcohol roadside screening test which he failed.
The driver was arrested and escorted to Drumheller Detachment for breath samples where it was determined his blood alcohol level was nearly double the legal limit.
As a result of this investigation, a 31-year-old male from Meota Saskatchewan was charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level over 80 mg/%, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, operating motor vehicle with un-secure load, fail to remain at the scene of an accident and fail to maintain lane on the highway.
The accused was also subject to Provincial Immediate Road Side Sanctions resulting in a vehicle seizure, licence suspension, and other sanctions. He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in the Alberta Court of Justice on August 16, 2024 in Drumheller to answer to the charges.
Alberta Child and Family Services took custody of the children and facilitated their safe transportation to other family members.
If you have any information regarding criminal activity in the Drumheller and or surrounding areas, please contact Drumheller RCMP at 403.823.7590, call 911, or contact your local Police Service. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store.