Wounded Warriors Canada<\/a>, bringing participants to historic battlefields around the world to honour Canadian military service and raise money for mental\u2011health programs for veterans, first responders and their families.<\/p>\nThis year\u2019s ride,\u00a0In Flanders Fields,\u00a0follows a route through Bruges, Ypres and the Ypres Salient, tracing key First World War locations\u00a0and major battle sites.<\/p>\n
MacKinnon, who owned and operated eight McDonald\u2019s restaurants,\u00a0including locations in Alliston and Angus,\u00a0before passing the business to his son, says the trip is both a physical challenge and a personal act of remembrance.<\/p>\n
![\"08222026rorymackinnon3\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/08222026rorymackinnon3.jpeg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nRetired local businessman Rory MacKinnon, seen here playing the bagpipes during a ceremony in Dieppe in 2015, will join the Battlefield Bike Ride: In Flanders Fields in September. | Image supplied
<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll fly to Belgium on Sept. 4 to join hundreds of riders honouring the sacrifices made on the same ground more than a century ago.<\/p>\n
An honorary colonel with the RCAF at CFB\u00a0Borden for the past seven years, MacKinnon has seen firsthand how vital the organization\u2019s support is \u2014 and the impact it has on the people it serves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve done the Wounded Warriors ride for mental health for many years. I’ve gotten to know the chair of the Wounded Warriors charity and some of the key folks there. Their other big fundraiser is the Battlefield Bike Ride that they do every year over in Europe,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As an avid cyclist who spends much of his spare time on the trails around Simcoe County, MacKinnon says he\u2019s looking forward to a trip that blends his passion for riding with his commitment to supporting Wounded Warriors Canada.<\/p>\n
The trip begins Sept.\u00a06 in Brugge, with participants cycling roughly 60 kilometres a day. Most days include visits to two or three battlefield sites, he says.<\/p>\n
Although MacKinnon\u00a0has visited battlefield tours as a piper for the 100th anniversary of CFB\u00a0Borden in 2017, this will be his first time visiting this particular area in Flanders.<\/p>\n
Having the opportunity to participate in the ride is deeply meaningful for MacKinnon, who says the region holds a powerful family link.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a very strong family connection to that area. So, when I went over before, I piped at Courcelette and at Sanctuary Wood, mainly in tribute to my grandfather, my great uncle, and my great aunt who served in that area,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His daughter, who’s a nurse, even gifted his great aunt her nursing pin on graduation day \u2014 a gesture MacKinnon says still resonates.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went over just as the war was starting and didn’t come back until 1921, so many years after caring for the wounded,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe spent the rest of her life and didn’t talk to many people. She was definitely scarred,”\u00a0MacKinnon adds.\u00a0“The family always talked about the horrors that she saw in the war and the service that she did. So that’s special to me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s also important to MacKinnon\u00a0is knowing the charity he\u2019s supporting truly makes a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve learned that Wounded Warriors is an excellent charity. They have an excellent reputation within the Canadian Armed Forces community,” he says.\u00a0“And I think they’re making that connection to the folks that fought overseas and the sacrifices that they made.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says\u00a0the ride also gives him a chance to honour others along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to bike and I get to pipe there, and I’ve also got five names so far that people want etchings from the Menin Gate to commemorate their buried ancestors that fought over there,” says\u00a0MacKinnon.\u00a0“Hopefully\u00a0I can get them because there’s 54,000 names on the Menin Gate and sometimes it’s hard to get to those names and etch them \u2014 but that’s one of my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s looking forward to the chance to connect with people who share his sense of purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing I’m looking forward to most is that through my connections as an honorary colonel, I’ve met some incredible Canadians that share the same passions that I do,\u201d MacKinnon says. \u201cI expect, because (it\u2019s) Wounded Warriors Canada, that I’m going to make a lot of new connections to folks that have similar goals, similar passions, similar interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
To make a donation to MacKinnon\u2019s ride or to the Battlefield Bike Ride event, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local man preparing for seven\u2011day commemorative cycling journey tracing some of the most consequential terrain of the First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,304076],"class_list":["post-876663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-wounded-warriorsrory-mackinnonbattlefield-bike-ride-in-flanders-fieldswounded-warriors-battlefield-bike-ride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}