The stage is set for the championship of the Drumheller Co-ed Recreational Soccer League.
    The league is in its fourth season has enjoyed great competition throughout the year with four teams taking to the field. The regular season is just a rehearsal for the post season and it has brought out some exciting soccer.
    The regular season ended with Riverside Value Drug Mart finishing undefeated. In second place was Recovery, and then Drumheller United and Yavis.
    In the A semifinal on June 13, Riverside Value Drug Mart got the best of Yavis, with a high scoring 8-5 finish. In the B semifinal, Drumheller United, a team with high school players from DVSS and St. Anthony’s, beat out Recovery 7-2.
    This put Recovery and Yavis in the third place match played on Tuesday, June 20 (results not available at press time), and Riverside Value Drug Mart versus Drumheller United on Thursday June 22.

The RBC gold medal team presents a cheque to Heart and Stroke Foundation area manager Josie Doll. The Big Bike is structured to hold 29 bikers including the driver to make a total of 30 people at any given time. 

RBC, Scotia Bank, CIBC, and Western Financial participated in the Big Bike Ride held by the Heart and Stroke Foundation on a trail around town in support of critical heart and stroke research on Tuesday, June 6 at the Badlands Community Facility in Drumheller. 

“A lot of it’s about team building, about getting out, getting active, getting your heart rate going, and that sort of thing,” said Josie Doll, Heart and Stroke Foundation Area Manager. 

The groups raised over $10,000 with RBC taking on their fourth year and becoming a gold medal team after raising more than $5,000. Medals are awarded to teams that reach and or exceed the $5,000 goal.

“That's a lot of money to raise from a small town especially,” said Doll. “We were lucky to have a very beautiful day – clearly great people involved in doing that for us.”

Each bike holds 29 riders with the addition of a driver who announces and plays music during the ride.

“It’s quite a unique experience really for people to get on there and to see it moving,” said Doll. “There is no motor, so we actually do pedal that thing. It can be hard work but everybody had a lot of fun on it so we’ll be back again next year.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation plans to reach a southern Albertan goal of $75,000 in support of Heart and Stroke research this year. So far, a grand total of $60,000 has been raised across the southern half. The bike itself can be found all across Canada but two can be found in the province during the summer months.

“It’s really like you are part of something very large,” said Doll. 

The money raised usually goes towards research at Universities like the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta.

“There are a number of things where the money goes,” said Doll. “We placed AEDs throughout the country – that was part of the plan last year so we have 8,000 of them across Canada.”