Ride of the Mustang celebrates another successful event

George McDougall's Ride of the Mustang started Tuesday (April 4) at lunch and officially ended Thursday (April 6) at noon to help raise funds for the Alberta Children's Hospital. 

This year bike-a-thon raised over $55,000 bringing the total raised over the event's 12-year existence to around $1.055 million. This year's funds raised went to Kids Helping Kids, a part of the Alberta Children's Hospital. The money will be used for oncology research.

Over 300 students signed up to participate in the event this year.

Kelsey Ahluwalia, a teacher that helps to facilitate the Ride of the Mustang says this year's event was a great success.

"From what I heard and saw, everyone loved it. We had 32 teams this yearhey did all kinds of games, we did some "Just Dance" in the gym, a little dance party, and there was tons of fun."

The opening ceremonies saw "Kids Helping Kids" members come out and talk to the students before the bike-a-thon started.

Wednesday saw around 15 students' heads shaved or cut short in support of the Alberta Children's Hospital. Two different country artists came in and entertained the participants in the evening.

"We had Brandon Lorenzo and Travis Pickering come and do a concert for us for a couple of hours. The kids loved it, they were super engaging with the kids and by the end of it a few had lost their voices because they were singing so much. "

This year's closing ceremony saw the grand total cheque presentation of how much was raised and a few speeches including Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown and Airdrie Banff MP Blake Richards.

Planning for next year's event will start in September.

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