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OVCATA – A small group doing big things for safe and healthy Active Transportation in the Ottawa Valley
Four-year old Claire and her parents, Marie-Janick Robitaille and Lars Romeskie lead the way on the Algonquin Trail at the 10K Active Transportation event for Renfrew Hospice October 15. Despite the rain, $725 was raised for the hospice. According to OVCATA's secretary, Andy Kalnins, Claire, "Led the pack for 10K on her little bike peddling in a manner that makes a hamster on a flywheel look like a slacker. When she was done, she bounced like a rabbit to get to the main building."
Welcome to OVCATA - The Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance. We're a small group of volunteers who came together in 2016 to promote safe and healthy Active Transportation (AT) in the Ottawa Valley. Our style is collaborative, educational and non-adversarial. Since 2016, we've made a lot of progress that way and obtained strong buy-in and support from the County of Renfrew and many local municipalities.
We love to organize events, publicize and support other people's events all over the Valley, get bikes into the hands of those who need them, work with local governments and businesses, and lots more.
We are quite proud of the events we organize or help organize. Each year, they bring hundreds of riders and wakers, as well, to visit our uniquely beauttiful Valley. Many come back repeatedly after coming out for one of our charity rides. These include:
The Tour de BeaverTails, which takes place in July and starts in the historic village of Killaloe, where the international BeaverTails pastry company was born. The event is sponsored by the Killaloe BeaverTails kiosk and other local sponsors and run in partnership with the Killaloe and Area Lions Club, which donates proceeds to important local causes such as vision care and the village food bank.
The Tour de Whitewater also takes place in July and begins in the Ottawa River village of Westmeath with several routes along the Ottawa River and through local farmlands. Main organizer is the Westmeath District Recration Association. More than 400 cyclists take part every year.
The Tour de Bonnechere, the grandparent of all our area rides, goes in August out of Eganville with routes along the Bonnechere River and into some really high hill country including Foymount and Letterkenny. It is run in partnership with the Eganville Rotary Club and benefits local causes like mental health and the area food bank.
The Tour de Pouttine takes place in September in Braeside, beside the Ottawa River. It's a fun ride organized by the Township of McNab-Braeside. It pioneered the concept of rewarding healthy activity with a big-time snack.
On November 22, 2025, OVCATA holds its Annual General Meeting in at the Royal Canadian Legion in Cobden, ON. The theme of this year's meeting is Women in Cycling and Walking: Barriers and Opportunities. Meeting time is 10 a.m.-1 pm. with a delicious lunch.
In September of 2023 OVCATA hosted our first Cashing in on Cycle Tourism conference. A report on that conference can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/cashing-in-on-cycle-tourism/home . In October, 2025, we took part in Cashing in on Cycle Tourism 2.0, which brought together business, government, tourism and cycling people who are working together to make the Ottawa Valley a preferred cycle tourism destination.
Click here if you'd like to donate money to help keep it all rolling.
And if you'd like to get involved, please send a note to info@ovcata.ca, get on our email list, and join our Facebook group.
