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Lt. Jeff Lee, left, and Warrant Officer Robert Irwin, participants in the Northern portion of this year's Military Police National Motorcycle Relay Ride, pose for a picture with George Tuccaro, commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Mayor Gord Van Tighem, Brig.-Gen. Guy Hamel, Joint Task Force North Cmdr. and Chief Warrant Officer Gilles Laroche, on Saturday at the Joint Task Force North headquarters parking lot. - Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Military Police National Motorcycle Relay Ride for Blind Children Fund ran for its fourth year this past weekend, but this year, featured riders from the NWT for the first time.

Warrant Officer Bob Irwin left the city on Saturday at 9 a.m., along with six of his riding buddies, and said in his 27 years of riding he had been on pretty well every main Alberta road but had never travelled from Yellowknife to the ultimate destination: Jasper, Alta.

"It blew my mind and it was one of the reasons I moved to the North, to see that kind of countryside," he said, adding he has been posted in the city for about a year and originally from Hinton, Alta. He had been planning the trip ever since he moved to the capital of the NWT.

"Everybody is just loving it. We have to stop every couple of hours just to pick bugs out our teeth and everybody is just grinning."

Others on the ride included Fred (Dick) Deschenes, Rose Jasmin, Bastien "Gazoo" Leclerc, Jeff "Flee" Lee, Wendy "Paws" McMillan, and "Dez" Desjardins.

The main reason the group was put together, however, was to fundraise. Late Tuesday afternoon, Irwin estimated the group had raised at least $4,200.

"The ride has been a lot of fun and there have been lots of ups and downs and some issues on the road as per usual," said Jasmin. "Some of the roads are rough here and there and then some are really nice. But the scenery is breathtaking."

Jasmin works with the military family resource centre, and feels the cause was worthy and a good way to tie in her passion for riding motorcycles. She has been a rider for about six years.

"I thought it would be a great way to support the ride and support families as well," she said.

Pennsylvania riders

Some donations poured in from people visiting Yellowknife who shared the riders' passion for bikes. Three riders from Pennsylvania, who were visiting Yellowknife for the first time, gave the military police $60 before the relay began on Saturday morning. Ken Bruce, Jim Robinson, and Gary Christman of the Mac-Pac BMW Club – one of the largest BMW clubs in the United States – had left eastern Pennsylvania on July 20 and and roleldinto town last weekend.

"It is a long ride," said Bruce of his trek to Yellowknife. "It is like an oasis at the end of a long road that is basically through wilderness. You travel 400 miles north from High Level (Alta.) and pretty much all of it is wilderness."

The riders said it was interesting seeing remnants of the forest fires that struck northern Alberta and noted they enjoyed the "rawness" of not having to encounter much traffic.

"The trip started for me as a whim of mine because I hadn't been to the Northwest Territories," said Christman.

Whether they would ever come back to Yellowknife, the three paused for a moment and said they agreed they would fly in the next time.

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