This weekend bikes and walkers will once again be a common sight for drivers along Roper’s Newland Road as the 43rd Annual Roper Bike/Walk a thon commences Saturday, September 6.

According to longtime Bike a thon organizer Judy Marriner, visitors to the event can expect the usual day of easy riding, provided the weather is nice, and all the food and refreshments participants have come to expect in between rides.

However, this year’s version of the event will come with some small, but not insignificant, differences. The first of which is a name change, which signifies a new direction and the changing of the guard as far as leadership is concerned.

“The name of it has changed a little bit this year, it’s going to be the Roper Ruritan Leukemia Bike-a-Thon,” Marriner says, adding that the Ruritan have been so instrumental in supporting and providing goods to the event that it’s only right to have them take a more active role and in it’s activities to come...