Donavin Akerley died in a collision at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highland Road in Kamloops on Sept. 26, 2021.
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October 02, 2021 - 8:00 AM
While it isn’t uncommon for bikers to do rides to show their support for community causes, this past week bikers in Kamloops rode to honour and remember one of their own.
Donavin Akerley died tragically on Sunday, Sept. 26, in a motorcycle crash.
READ MORE: Motorcyclist killed in Kamloops collision identified
Organizer Trudy Nichol-Dagere said the event Thursday, Sept. 30, turned out so well, there's a chance it could become an annual memorial ride.
Akerley was well known in the biking community and many are grieving his death. She said the ride came up as a last minute idea that felt right.
“About forty bikes showed up, many carrying passengers,” Nichol-Dagere said. “He was a big bike and car guy so his mom drove his car to lead the group. We rode past the house where his son is to show him support, then we did a big loop through Sahali and down the highway.”
Nichol-Dagere has been riding bikes for years, and she spent many Thursday nights for the past two years riding with Akerley.
“The biking community is like a family,” she said. “You spend a lot of time together, you know each other’s kids. He was like a little brother to me who I knew always had my back. We have a group that rides every Thursday and he was in that group. He rode every day. He loved to ride.”
Nichol-Dagere said the biking community is generally a supportive group that does toy runs every year and shows up to show support when community causes come up.
She said losing Akerley was like losing a family member for many in the biking community.
“He was young,” she said. “A young dad. He was smart and very funny always making jokes about sports bikes versus Harleys. In the biking community we never want to forget the ones we lose.”
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