COBDEN — Cameron Dube of the Beachburg Off Road Cycling Association (BORCA) introduced himself to the new Township of Whitewater council members at the Dec. 2 recreation and culture committee meeting.
Looking back at BORCA’s history, he said the group formed in 2009 and became a not-for-profit organization in 2011. The volunteer organization cleans up various cycling trails throughout the Beachburg area and creates new trails.
He is hopeful of making Whitewater Region a destination for cyclists. He noted there are 50 kilometres of single track trails in the Ottawa area and 40 kilometres in the Forest Lea area near Pembroke.
“We are right in the middle,” he said. “Our goal is to have 100 kilometres of trails and have people from around the world come here.
“There’s no reason Whitewater can’t be like this.”
Mr. Cameron noted there is no shortage of volunteers when it comes to trail clean-up and trail-making.
“We have time and volunteers invested in this,” he said. “We take great pride in this.”
The goal is to have more trails throughout the township that are connected, he said.
“There’s no reason why Beachburg should be the only one with trails,” he said.
The annual Chicken Run event hosted by BORCA each May saw 300 competitors this year, Mr. Dube said. While many local people participated in the cycling and running event, there were many participants from throughout Eastern Ontario and New York, he said.
BORCA volunteers have also taken on the task of cleaning up the beach area at Little Lakes, Mr. Dube said.
“We’ve done some serious improvement in that area and it’s now a positive space,” he said.
Throughout the summer months, there’s plenty of people taking advantage of the cleaned up beach area, he said.
A business, Valley Cycle Tours, has even begun, which is operated by Jamieson Travel, and it’s successful, Mr. Dube said.
“People come up from Ottawa and Montreal just to cycle for a day,” he said.
Mr. Dube said the organization is hopeful of receiving grant funding to hire a student to help with the social media and other things during the summer months.
There’s also discussions going on about having a summer kids camp so the kids have something to do besides sit indoors and play games, Mr. Dube said.
He told the committee BORCA has a new web site, borcatrails.com, if they want to check it out.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin said Little Lakes has come a long way.
“I want to thank you and your crew,” he said. “You’ve done an amazing job at Little Lakes. Before you worked on it, it was not presentable. Now, it’s great looking.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead said he likes the spirit and enthusiasm of Mr. Dube and the many volunteers.
It was suggested that possibly Grants Settlement Road could have a wider shoulder for cyclists.
Mr. Dube was in favour of that, noting it’s a great road for cyclists, but many stay away because of the speed in which traffic flows there.
“We need places for people to cycle,” he said.
