Motorcycles Ride for Lansdowne Kids in 22nd Annual Event
- Tamara Botting
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
The sky was overcast, but the kindness of those involved in the 22nd annual Charity Motorcycle Ride for Lansdowne Kids had no problem shining through.
Just after 11 a.m., Owen Soden, the 2026 Lansdowne Children’s Centre youth ambassador, waved the flag to signal "kickstands up" to over 105 motorcycle riders. It was time to roll out from the Brantford Airport Community Hall parking lot and start the 22nd annual ride for Lansdowne kids, Brantford's loudest fundraiser.
Lindsay Soden, Owen’s mom, expressed her gratitude to all of the riders “for making the choice to support a great centre that supports great, amazing kids.”
Owen, almost 16, has been a client at Lansdowne since he was born, and has accessed services from several departments, including the Infant and Child Development Program (ICDP), occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and social work, as well as respite.
“We’ve just been very grateful for the support over the years. They’ve been a big backbone for us through everything,”
Lindsay said, adding, “It’s great to see all the support for the centre, and everyone out to have a good time and for a good reason.”
Despite their popularity and efficacy in helping clients reach their potential, not all respite services and recreation therapy programming offered by Lansdowne are government funded; donations and grants from the community make it possible.
That’s why fundraisers like the Charity Motorcycle Ride are so important, said Lynda Henriksen, Lansdowne’s Director of Development and Community Relations.
“We are dependent on community support to help us run those programs and services, and many more,” she said.
“The volunteer group that is continuing this legacy is a really compassionate and very dedicated group.”
The event was founded and run by Bob Caissie for 20 years; 2024 was expected to be the last year for the ride, but then Brian Kinrade with Ensuring Brant and others came forward to keep it going.
Brian said, “We’re just giving back to Lansdowne (Children’s Centre),” adding that the cause was personal for him because “Both my sons were (at Lansdowne) for speech therapy,” when they were young.
He thanked everyone who braved the potentially rainy weather to support the event, including all of the riders and volunteers, Strodes BBQ, BarCode the Band, police officers from multiple services across the province, Hot Country 93.9, and representatives from Lansdowne.
Brian also reminded everyone to watch for the save the date notifications, which will be coming out in the next couple of months.
“We’re trying to book the next ten years,” he said.
That’s actually a really wholesome turnout — 105+ bikes rolling out for a kids’ charity ride is no small thing. Even with cloudy skies, it sounds like the kind of event where the noise of engines + community energy kind of takes over the weather anyway.
I like how personal this one is too. Owen being the youth ambassador and also someone who’s been connected to Lansdowne since birth really puts a face on why these rides matter. It’s not just “a good cause” in abstract terms — it’s families literally showing up for services that helped them through real life stuff like speech therapy, physio, and support programs.
Also kind of cool (and rare) that the event almost ended…