Explore your community beginning this Canada Day, and start collecting prizes along the way, as the Town of Aurora launches the third annual Cycle Aurora.
Cycle Aurora this year is a nine-week program where residents can get outside and stay active while exploring the town – and beyond – at the same time.
Registration is now open for the event ahead of its July 1 launch.
Over the course of nine weeks, participants will be invited to take part in more than 45 challenges that will get you exploring Aurora and the surrounding area by bike.
Each of the 45 challenges are family friendly and, as you complete them through the GooseChase app, you can collect weekly prizes in the form of gift cards to local stores and businesses.
“Each week there will be different cycling-based activities, all themed, and each week we will be featuring winners of gift cards to local restaurants and businesses,” says Shelley Ware, special events co-ordinator for the Town of Aurora. “This is really for anyone who wishes to participate with any skill level. You don’t need to do all the activities [the week they’re posted]. The missions and activities accumulate throughout the summer and you approach them when you want to, whichever time of day. It’s completely flexible.
“We really hope that this keeps families active and it also entices them to explore different parts of the community and cultural destinations, historic landmarks that maybe they haven’t checked out previously. We’re excited to finish this over nine weeks and continue that type of engagement with the attendees. When you have a Canada Day celebration, it’s over in two days, but this is a nine-week celebration.
“There will be really active challenges such as encouraging people to take on the Butter Tart Trail, which is one of the York Region trails. We also have really friendly challenges which don’t just have to be in Aurora. If people go away for a weekend, go on holidays and they have access to a bike, they can still go for a family ride and take a photo of their favourite sunrise, their favourite sunset, check out a variety of different parks. We’ve tried to make the missions unique to Aurora but also with some versatility to be able to still be accomplished outside of Aurora.
“One of the weekly themes is reacquainting with nature and really focusing on the trails system, wildlife, and nature components within that theme. We have a week focused on Mission Impossible themes, taking a completely different twist on some additional challenges and encouraging you to approach your biking routine differently. We also have a week focused on sports and taking in and exploring different parks and amenities that Aurora has to offer and hopefully riding to a location, trying out a new sport, and maybe that becomes one of your new favourite activities.”
Cycle Aurora was first wheeled out at the height of the global pandemic and although things have eased considerably since then as people have gone back largely to their “normal” lives, Cycle Aurora has endured with popularity growing each year. Ware attributes much of that success to the flexibility of the GooseChase app and the program overall.
“Being on the admin side of the GooseChase app, it is absolutely thrilling and a privilege to see the missions come in,” says Ware. “I’m really looking forward to the wildlife ones, the nature ones, the sunset and sunrises. I even learned so much about Aurora and different places people have taking these challenges, too. If you’re registered in the GooseChase app, you can also see other people’s submissions. It really is… for being an individual activity where you don’t see all the other participants, it really is one that connects us together.”
Registration for Cycle Aurora and its prizes closes on June 30. If you aren’t registered, you can still participate in a variety of activities as game codes will be shared on the Town’s website.
For more information, including registration, visit aurora.ca/cycleaurora.
Brock Weir is a federally funded Local Journalism Initiative reporter at The Auroran
