RENFREW COUNTY — June was one of the rainiest Bike Months ever in the Ottawa Valley, but that didn’t dampen participation in the Silver Chain Challenge, the friendly on-line competition between Lanark and Renfrew counties.
In all, 167 participants logged 36,784 km of cycling, walking or running during the month. The statistics are all available online at http://silverchainchallenge.ca/scc/stats and are tracked by municipality, showing the number of participants, the distances they logged, the population, and the percent of population taking part.
Overall, Renfrew, with 128 participants, topped Lanark, with 39. After adjustment for population, Renfrew has 101,573, Lanark, 65,667, Renfrew is still the winner.
“Everyone wins in this,” said Laura Brisson, Paramedic Public Relations Coordinator, County of Renfrew. “Thank you all for your participation and for making Renfrew County a healthier more active place to live. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this friendly competition, it was one big step closer to a more active and healthier community.”
On a municipal basis, Arnprior logged the most distance – 5,832.6 km – while Mississippi Mills had the most participants with 26 and finished second in distance with 5,445.3 km. Tiny North Algona Wilberforce, with just 2,958 residents had 15 participants, logged 3,253.8 km, and had the highest participation rate of all municipalities. Whitewater Region, home of two major cycling events this year, had 18 participants, logged 3,055.9 km, and had the third highest participation rate. Second highest participation rate was in Admaston/Bromley, whose 12 participants logged 1,285 km.
Warden of the County of Renfrew, Jennifer Murphy said, “Thank you all for your participation and for making Renfrew County a healthier more active place to live. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this friendly competition, it was one big step closer to a more active and healthier community.”
The Silver Chain Challenge is a great local tradition, and this year’s edition showed its continuing importance, according to one of its founders, Jeff Mills, of Mississippi Mills a member of the Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance (OVCATA).
“It’s important to encourage people to cycle and participate, for their health and for the community’s,” Mr. Mills said. “And it provides us an opportunity to collect data that counties and municipalities can use in future planning.”
Next year, he said, the event will be headed up by the newly-formed Eastern Ontario Active Transportation Network, which was formed subsequent to this year’s Eastern Ontario Active Transportation Summit. The Network will be organized by health units from counties in the region.
OVCATA’s co-chair Ish Theilheimer, who put in nearly 800 km in June, is pleased with how the event went.
“Despite some awfully wet weather, it encouraged a lot of us to get out on bikes or walking and get others out too.”
