The Big Country Anti-Violence Association (BCAVA) sixth Walk A Mile march shifted from an in-person walk to a month-long virtual event, which wrapped up on Friday, October 22, where participants were challenged to complete their own initiative.
A group from the Drumheller Health Centre, three individual car salesmen from local dealerships, and Dr. Rithesh Ram were among the participants signed up for the virtual event, with funds raised for the Alberta Association of Communities Against Abuse (AACAA) and the local, temporary emergency shelter, Colton’s Place.
“This year is a different dynamic with COVID,” says Jamie Worman, one of the participants of the virtual walk. “Usually you see a couple hundred guys in heels, dressed up, banging on drums.”
Worman has regularly participated in the Walk a Mile march and even got friends from beyond Drumheller involved during the last in-person event; this year he donned the red heels and walked around the Sunrise Auto dealership where he works.
He was unable to do as much fundraising as he would have liked this year, though says the most important part of the walk is the light it sheds on domestic violence and ending the social stigma around speaking out against it.
“Especially in small towns, you don’t hear much about domestic violence, and a lot of people suffer in silence,” Worman tells the Mail.
Dr. Rithesh Ram also donned the signature red heels.
This is Dr. Ram’s second Walk a Mile he has participated in, the first being pre-pandemic. He says the shift to a virtual event must have been “very challenging” for organizers to get the word out about the event and to raise funds for the cause.
As the only male in the office, he felt it was important to discuss among his staff at Riverside Medical Clinic how to challenge the event. For his challenge, Dr. Ram wore the red heels and a Walk a Mile t-shirt for an entire clinical day from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
“The actual walk was easier,” Dr. Ram jokes, though adds it is all for a very important cause.
Dr. Ram shared the fundraiser over social media and also had a donation sheet available at the reception desk of his clinic, with all donations matched by him; in total, Dr. Ram raised $500 in donations for the Walk a Mile event.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is known for its world class collection of specimens and now, the museum can also boast some of those specimens are also record-breaking.
Guinness contacted the Royal Tyrrell Museum for the Guinness World Records 2022, which has a very targeted look at specific museums, and several specimens were suggested for world records; five of these suggested specimens were recognized for holding record-breaking titles, from largest marine reptile to the most complete tyrannosaurid skeleton discovered.
“Although the five (record-breaking) specimens are in collection at the museum, only three (Borealopelta markmitchelli, Shonisaurus sikanniensis, and Gorgosaurus libratus) are currently on display,” curator of Dinosaur Systematics and Evolution Dr. Caleb Brown tells the Mail.
Perhaps one of the most recognizable specimens to receive a Guinness World Record is the Borealopelta markmitchelli. It was previously recognized as “one of the most scientifically significant specimens,” and now holds the world record for Best-preserved Armoured Dinosaur.
The specimen was discovered in March 2011 at the Suncor Millennium mine in Fort McMurray by shovel operator Shawn Funk. Upon realizing what he had discovered was fossilized material, Funk and his supervisor contacted the Royal Tyrrell Museum to report their findings.
It took over five and a half years, and some 7,000 hours for lab technician Mark Mitchell to free the fossil from the surrounding rock, exposing an exceptionally well preserved, three-dimensional specimen.
Following a special by National Geographic, Dr. Brown says the museum received numerous booking calls from around the world asking about the specimen.
“It’s so well preserved you don’t have to imagine what dinosaurs look like,” Dr. Brown says, noting most specimens are usually skeletal.
The museum also received certificates for Longest Neck Ever (Based on Number of Vertebrae) for Albertonectes venderveldei, which has an impressive 76 individual neck vertebrae; Gorgosaurus libratus received the record for the Most Complete Tyrannosaur Skeleton--this specimen is also highly recognizable due to its ‘death pose’ and has also helped uncover new information about how tyrannosaurids grew and how their predation changed with age and size; Ornithomimus received recognition as the Most Complete Ornithomimid; and Largest Marine Reptile Skeleton was given to Shonisaurus sikanniensis, which is on display in the Triassic Giant exhibit--the specimen’s mid-section was washed away prior to discovery and researchers were able to estimate the full length of the creature would have been some 21 metres long based on the size of fossil material they were able to collect, such as the skull.
Although Borealopelta is the most recently discovered of the five record-breaking specimens, Dr. Brown says the museum is collecting new specimens every year and several specimens have been discovered by members of the public, and he encourages the public to keep their eyes open when out walking in river valleys or digging in the bedrock.
“Ordinary members of the public, not just palaeontologists, can make a significant contribution,” Dr. Brown says.