Support has flooded in from across Alberta for the family of a respected motorcyclist who died after a crash at the Numb Bum ice race earlier this month. Veteran ice racer Troy Daniel Ritchie died Feb.
Support has flooded in from across Alberta for the family of a respected motorcyclist who died after a crash at the Numb Bum ice race earlier this month.
Veteran ice racer Troy Daniel Ritchie died Feb. 15 at the University of Alberta hospital from injuries sustained the previous night at the 26th annual Numb Bum 24-Hour Ice Race.
Held at Sandy Lake, just west of Alexander First Nation, the race is known as the world's longest, coldest race on ice, and challenges riders to complete as many laps as possible on the frozen lake in 24 hours.
Ritchie, a 51-year-old transmission mechanic from Lacombe, Alta., crashed his motorcycle on the course about 6.5 hours into the race and sustained life-threatening injuries to his leg. STARS Air Ambulance later airlifted him to hospital.
Support flooded in from across the world once Ritchie's death was announced on the event's website.
Event organizers launched a fundraiser for the Ritchie family on the website GoFundMe.com on Wednesday and had a trust fund set up through ATB Financial for them within days, said Jeremy Caissie, spokesperson for the Numb Bum.
“Since then, almost $22,000 has been raised,” he said Monday – well the initial goal of $20,000 – and they have no plans to stop the fundraiser anytime soon.
“It's definitely not over.”
The Alberta Endurance Ice Racing Association (AEIRA) should have plans for a fundraising banquet and silent auction for the Ritchie family in place later this week, said board member Jim Burrows. Motorcycle dealerships across the province have also committed to putting out donation jars put out for the family.
The racing community is one big family in Alberta, Burrows said, when asked about the outpouring of support. Ritchie was particularly well known, having links to the drag racing, motocross, endurance and ice-racing communities.
Jason McRae, writing on the Pembina Dirt Riders Association Facebook page, said that he had known Ritchie for 35 years and described him as the best transmission mechanic around.
“Troy Ritchie could ride the wheels off any motorcycle,” he wrote.
“He would get on a bike three to four years older than anyone else and make all the new bikes look like junk.”
Racer Candace English wrote on that same page that she looked up to Ritchie as a young racer in the 1990s, and recalls how he put pink number plates on his bike when he had his first daughter.
“To this day, I've never met a guy so stoked to have a baby girl.”
The Ritchie family put out a statement last week thanking everyone for their support, saying that they took comfort in knowing how he had touched so many.
“Your words echo our feelings of Troy being ‘first place in our hearts' and he will remain there forever for us,” they said.
Next steps
Caissie said Numb Bum officials have yet to discuss the event's future as they were focused on helping the Ritchie family at the moment.
The AEIRA has decided that the last ice race of this season will proceed in a modified form, Burrows said. Originally intended as a three-hour motorcycle endurance race, Grand Prairie's Studs On Ice V event will now be a time-trial event where racers will ride one at a time to set the best lap time. The event will also be a fundraiser for the Ritchie family.
Burrows said AEIRA officials would discuss changes to future races later this year, adding that he was confident that the Numb Bum and endurance ice racing would continue in Alberta.
“It's what Troy would have wanted.”
Details on the fundraisers and the trust fund are at pdramx.com.
