Two young men are on the road across Canada on bicycles to raise awareness of Lyme Disease.
    Daniel Corso and Tanner Cookson were through Drumheller last Thursday afternoon. The two St. Catherines Ontario natives began the journey from Victoria on May 11 and along the way are getting people to notice Lyme Disease.
    The two are doing the ride in dedication of one of their friends, 24-year-old Adeline Nohara, who has chronic Lyme Disease. Her story is painfully similar to many fighting Lyme.
    “She went through 18 different doctors, over two years, getting misdiagnosed and bouncing around, going from one sure thing to another and nothing was working, she was getting worse and worse,” explains Daniel.
    She finally was diagnosed in the United States explains Daniel.
    “She has been getting worse over the last few years, and I really wanted to do something for her,” said Daniel. “I had been researching Lyme and began to discover that Adeline was not the only one,” said Daniel. “There are a lot more Canadians like her especially.”
    This inspiration to help meshed with another interest, to ride across the country. He pitched the idea to long time friend, Tanner and he didn’t hesitate. In four months, they were ready to go.
    They have been travelling at a strong clip, averaging about 140 kilometres a day. The pair was well equipped to take on the challenge both are avid rowers and were physically prepared for the ride. Daniel’s father Lawrence is driving the pilot camper and keeping them fed and taken care of.
    Starting the ride, they had no idea of the scope of what they were getting themselves into. By Day 11, they had only spent a couple nights in the camper, and have been greeted by groups in almost every community. They have been generous to the riders in hosting receptions and arranging accommodation. In Drumheller, the Lymelight Society treated the crew to dinner at the Last Chance Saloon and arranged accommodation.
    “It is pretty special just to meet the people we are trying to help,” said, Daniel, “and seeing the reaction from them, of two people who are not directly affected by it, who are trying to help.”
    They have set a goal to raise $100,000 for the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation. But just as important is the awareness.
    “It is also raising awareness and ultimately getting the attention of politicians and health care officials that can do something about it. If they are able to catch wind of this, the $100,000 we raise will be nothing compared to the millions that the government and health care system puts into it,” said Daniel.
    They are scheduled to conclude the ride on July 8 in St. John’s Newfoundland.

    Albertan’s have rated one of Drumheller’s attractions most respected in a survey conducted for Alberta Venture Magazine.
    The Royal Tyrrell Museum was given the highest ranking for both consumer and businesses by those who were invited to complete the survey. There were approximately 1500 consumers and 300 businesses that completed it.
    The survey was conducted by Leger’s marketing and is called the Leger’s reputation survey. The Royal Tyrrell Museum was ranked number one with a score of 165 over WestJet (159) and the Calgary Zoo (158).
    Those who participated in the survey didn’t just get to say yes, they liked the museum, or no they didn’t, it was more in depth than that.
    Carrie-Ann Lunde, head of Marketing and Media for the Royal Tyrrell Museum said she enquired about how the survey is conducted.
    She said, Leger’s marketing uses reputation model questions, which is a way to rank someone on how they feel about you. She said some of the questions included asking if it was good, bad or if they didn’t know enough or if they had never heard of the company at all.
    “It wasn’t something they approached us with and we didn’t know it was happening so we found out after we were ranked,” Carrie-Ann Lunde said. “It was fantastic news.”
    Lunde said it was “really good” for the staff to be recognized with something like this survey because it covers all aspects of the museum such as the customer service, quality and overall reputation. “There are so many different organizations that operate within the museum that contribute to its success, it is really great to get recognized for how well everyone is doing at their job,” she said.