Montgomery Whitewater hosts adaptive youth cycling event
Montgomery Whitewater and the Birmingham-based Lakeshore Foundation came together to host Everyone Can Ride, a youth adaptive cycling event.
The event was run by Birmingham- based Little Hammies, whose mission is to is to disconnect kids from screens and provide fun experiences on bikes.
Designed for children ages 12 and under, Everyone Can Ride offered a fun and inclusive cycling experience where kids of all abilities could participate. Young riders had the chance to develop skills, take warm-up laps, and enjoy a friendly race around a half-mile course. Adaptive cycles were provided by Lakeshore Foundation for children with disabilities, ensuring that every participant had a way to join the ride.
“We like to work with organizations like this,” Kevin Orr of Lakeshore Foundation told Action 8 News. “Because as a person with a disability or without a disabilities, all children just want to play and have fun and a lot of times as we get older, we go, ‘Oh I don’t want to do that,’ or whatever, as you see these kids and they’re having a blast and really, that’s what this is about.”
“That’s why I do it. It’s for the smiles, these kids are all out here,” Little Hammies founder Max Klein said. “There’s also a lot of happiness, and they get medals at the end. The cool thing about Little Hammies, it’s an individual sport for you. There’s not many this young in individual sports, so today they’re outracing their bike for themselves. And that is what’s cool.”
The partnership aims to develop future programs at Montgomery Whitewater, including cycling, paddling and other outdoor adventure experiences tailored for disabled and nondisabled individuals of all ages.
