THUNDER BAY – Visitors at the Terry Fox Scenic Lookout were treated to quite a sight on Friday as roughly 75 motorcycles thundered up the highway to make a stop along their cross-country journey.
The Rolling Barrage 19-day ride started on Aug. 1 in St. John's, NL, and hopes to bring awareness to post traumatic stress disorder, other mental health challenges, as well as physical challenges that can also play a part in dealing with mental health according to Rolling Barrage CEO Christian Carter.
“We engaged the Canadian Forces communities as well as the first responder community and families and supporters of those specific communities as well to join in our ride across Canada,” he said.
The riders were met at the Terry Fox Lookout by Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff and Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland who welcomed them to the city and offered the group words of support for the rest of their journey.
The Rolling Barrage has seen a slight drop in numbers over the pandemic, but Carter said that the number of riders with them this year despite the almost constant rain shows how the organization is growing once again.
“We had registered 75, and then you have some of the motorcycles have the capacity carrying passengers, so, we were expecting close to like 100 people total, but the rain has seemed to be with us since St. John's and it's continuing to kind of follow us,” he said.
“Hopefully we'll see sunshine sooner or later, but you know, despite all that, everyone seems happy and and they're glad they're part of the ride, so yeah, I I think you know it's not necessary to have huge numbers when we did this in 2017, I rolled into here with 10 riders. We've increased our numbers over over the years, but I think there's a matter of quality over quantity.”
Carter Said that since becoming CEO of the Rolling Barrage, he has made it a mandate that the group be more open and transparent to engage the people most often affected by PTSD like veterans and active military personnel, and first responders.
“They've been very, very supportive of us right across the country so far. We've had escorts from both police, fire and ambulance and it's good to see fire apparatuses on bridges,raising Canadian flags and waving at us along the way,” he said.
“We have people in the communities on the side of the road waving to us along the way, so that part in itself too is also great support for those that are are on the right.”
To find out about ways that you can help out, visit the Rolling Barrage’s website.
