The 12th annual Hinton MS Bike tour on Sept. 11 and 12 will go down in history as the toughest, after race organizers were forced to stop the ride on Sunday due to rain and deteriorating trail conditions. 

Geke Duncan, client services co-ordinator for the MS Society of Hinton, said recent rain had already made the trails muddy and miserable, and hundreds of cyclists pounding over the terrain one after another further destroyed the track. 

“The trails were going to be muddy regardless of what happened [that] weekend,” Duncan said.

Bikes were breaking down, cyclists were crashing and soaked to the bone, and race organizers couldn’t keep up with the repairs. 

“We were starting to get some hypothermia cases,” Duncan said. People helping fix bikes were finding they couldn’t stay warm while stopping to help, and were forced to continue on. 

It was then that Duncan and her fellow race organizers decided to stop the race entirely. 

“It was supposed to be fun,” she said, adding that one race organizer witnessed a woman tumbling off her bike after attempting to go around a giant puddle. The woman fell into the muddy puddle and was completely covered. She emerged distraught and soaking wet. She was brought a pair of dry clothes and continued on with the ride. 

Cyclists were no longer enjoying the ride, and there were no complaints when they were all asked to stop after running on pure adrenalin for most of the day.

“They didn’t quit, they were told to stop,” Duncan said. “It was purely a safety call for sure.”

With so much rain pouring down on the riders, Duncan said camaraderie shone through and it was nice to see so many people stopping to help out their fellow cyclists. 

For first timers to the MS Ride, Duncan hopes they won’t take this year as an example of what the MS Tour is. 

“I’ve told the first timers to not use this year as a benchmark,” she said. 

On Saturday, conditions were tough, but most riders finished. Usually the last riders are arriving at the finish line by 4:30 p.m., but this year there were still people on the course until 7:30 p.m. 

“It was a long day for sure,” Duncan said. “The rain was relentless.”

On Saturday evening, a dance and reception was held and an awards ceremony followed on Sunday. Duncan said the mood was a bit quiet after the miserable day out in the rain, but families, volunteers and riders stuck around to eat and celebrate. 

“It’s always a very festive event,” she said. 

As of Sept. 16, the Hinton MS Bike Tour has raised $330,000 towards MS research and support. Donors still have till the end of the month to contribute. Last year the tour raised $385,000. Duncan said they were hoping for $400,000, but would be extremely happy to raise the same as last year. 

Donations can be made a variety of ways, through individual teams and riders. The Jasper Rockhoppers are raising funds in the Jasper area and can be pledged through their team site by contacting Greg Van Tighem at  gvantighem@town.jasper.ab.ca

Duncan said many of the cyclists found fund-raising more difficult this year.

“The cyclists were commenting that it was getting tougher and tougher to get sponsorships,” she said. 

Successful fund-raising has mainly come out of teams, with groups challenging each other. 

“It’s more fun to raise money as a team,” Duncan said. 

This year the Hinton MS Bike Tour had 40 teams, up from around 20 last year.