The Tour de BeaverTails® – a community cycling and walking tour – in Killaloe, Ontario, goes again on July 6, 2025, building on last year, when more than 150 riders and hikers raised more than $10,000 for local vision care. Last year’s event, the first ever, was wildly popular with participants, and this year’s tour promises to be even better. Above: Ron Moss of OVCATA prepares riders for the start of the 96-km ride at the first ever Tour de BeaverTail (Submitted)
The Killaloe and Area Lions Club is sponsoring the event again in cooperation with Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance (OVCATA), with proceeds going to the Killaloe Food Bank.
The Tour de BeaverTails® offers routes for riders of all abilities plus a heritage walk through the friendly little town. Everyone who registers gets to celebrate, at the end, with a sweet treat courtesy of BeaverTails®, which has become an international franchise corporation, and was invented in Killaloe in the late 1970s.
Pictured: Pam Hooker (at left), co-founder of BeaverTails, talks with blind rider Jeremy Steinberg and his pilot Paul Jorgenson at the 2024 Tour de BeaverTails. (Submitted)
“Combining a treat with healthy exercise is a great way to encourage participation,” says organizer Ish Theilheimer, a director of OVCATA and a member of the Lions. “The Lions Club and the great folks from BeaverTails are terrifically enthusiastic partners in this.” Theilheimer has been friends with BeaverTails® founders Grant and Pam Hooker since the 1970s, when they started their food business at the Killaloe Craft and Community Fair.
Everyone registering gets lunch and a BeaverTail® pastry after the ride. The cost of registration is $75 for adults and $35 for youth (13-18) and walkers.
A crew of volunteers from OVCATA will lay out the rides and supervise them, with water stations along the way. The routes are:
- Around the Town Classic – a 5-km heritage walk or 11-km family ride
- BeaverTails® Beauty – a 63-km road ride through beautiful rolling terrain
- Railroad Gravel-A-Rama – a 50-km ride for gravel riders out the railway and then into the hills
- Killaloe Sunrise Spectacular – a hilly, 97-km ride through Rockingham, Combermere, Foymount and Cormac.
- Heritage Walk – 5 km around the friendly town, guided by the Killaloe Heritage Society.
All rides and the walk start and end in Station Park in downtown Killaloe.
“Last year’s riders were more than enthusiastic about the routes, and we’ve made lots of little improvements in response to suggestions they made. The scenery is fantastic, the roads are quiet, and you can’t beat Killaloe for a friendly, little town,” says Theilheimer. “And the partnership with BeaverTails® and the Killaloe and Area Lions is sure to produce great results for our community.”
The website describing the event is here: CharityBikeTour.ca
The link for registration is here: https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=38370
Theilheimer,I.,OVCATA(2025,June17) Tour de BeaverTails® in Killaloe July 6 is even better than in inaugural year [media release]