Excitement was in the air on Wednesday, June 11, and Thursday, June 12, within Carlyle. After all it's not every day Olympic medalists come rolling through.
Clara Hughes, six time Canadian Olympic medalist in both speed skating and cycling, was joined by her husband Peter Guzman, and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, a fellow Olympic cyclist from Germany.
Hughes and her crew arrived in Carlyle at approximately 3 p.m. after a 116 km ride from Weyburn on Wednesday, June 11, which Hughes later discovered had been made "Clara Hughes Day in Carlyle," to which she was elated.
Hughes, as Bell Canada's spokesperson for Let's Talk, is currently on the final legs of her national ride which has been aimed at eliminating the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Derek Forgie, emcee of the events at the Rusty Relics Museum and Gordon F. Kells, explained to crowds that, "27 percent of Canadians are actually fearful of being around somebody with mental illness."
"A lot of people living with mental illness today actually feel the stigma part is actually harder to live with than the mental illness itself."
At both events Hughes spoke about challenges of the ride, but of her own difficulties overcoming depression following her first Olympics.
"Depression isn't something easy to talk about, but I also know it's not something we talk about enough" Hughes explained.
"Aas much as I'm proud of my Olympic medals that I've won, I'm also proud of the fact that I struggled, and I do struggle, and that makes me human," she stated. "And I really love to share that with every young person, every person in a community, that you can succeed in life, but that you can also have these moments in life where you don't know how you're going to put one foot in front of the other and the only way I got through those is I got help; and getting professional help for me has made a huge difference"
Fellow Olympian, Teutenberg, only spoke at the high school, but shared deep emotion with the students.
"I tried to hide my depression for the longest time and it worked for the longest time, but I also think my biggest victory was last year," Teutenberg explained, a victory however not related to winning a race.
"I had a bad crash and I was in Germany staying with my parents and I hadn't really told them about it, although they knew it, but I think walking down two flights of stairs and breaking down in front of my parents and finally admitting I really, really need help, I'm so messed up, I just can't function anymore. I just cried and my parents just hold me and this was probably the biggest success of my life so far."
Hughes and Teutenberg encouraged the youth at G.F. Kells to talk, to ask for help, because asking for help is not a weakness.
"The reality is that one in five Canadians do struggle and go through mental illness, and that means over 7 million Canadians right now are struggling - for a lot of people it's just part of their lives, it doesn't mean something traumatic had to happen that all of a sudden it kicked her into this place where you can't get out of bed, where you can't stop crying. Nobody knows what makes depression happens" Hughes stated. "Just realize that we're all in it together and part of the problem with people struggling in silence is that nobody's talking about it and it is up to you, to open up this conversation in your community, and I think my ultimate goal is to make Canada a place that is stigma free, that is taboo free, that doesn't have the shame attached to somebody that is struggling so they can't talk."
Upon arriving in Carlyle Hughes was on her 90th day of the ride with her cohorts. They had been in 93 different communities and with the event at the museum on June 11 then the high school on June 12, they had participated in 207 events.
Heading to her final destination, Hughes and her crew will ride to Ottawa for Canada Day celebrations atop parliament hill.
Though averaging approximately 25 km an hour on the ride, Hughes laughed as she explained they had gotten up to 70 km per hour in Alberta as they exited the Rocky Mountains.
As for being in Saskatchewan, Hughes stated, "Saskatchewan for us though has been all about the people, especially the small communities, they just are the most special places, yesterday we rolled into town in the middle of the afternoon and the people were at the museum waiting for us, and had cake, it was pretty fun, and the local Lions club donated $1,000 to Saskatchewan Mental Health Organization then the big local business group donated $500, and to be honest to you that hasn't happened in big cities."
"I mean we roll in and sometimes there's fundraising but something like that has not happened, so it's really amazing to see the smaller towns come together and support what we're trying to do and that's to raise awareness for mental health and raise awareness to break down the stigma attached to mental illness."
Hughes went on to say, "Ina and I both have personal experience with mental illness and we're both top level athletes, we have eight Olympic games between the two of us and we also have something else in common that we've both gone through depression."
"I've known Ina for 20 years, we raced against each other at two different Olympic games Ina's one of the toughest people I've ever met in my life, but she's also like me, someone who has succeeded, but someone who has a weakness as well and sometimes it's hard to let that weakness come out and tell other people and get help."
The Carlyle Lions donated $1,000 to Saskatchewan Mental Health Association, while the Carlyle Chamber of Commerce donated $500 to Sun Country Mental Health showing they were willing to make a difference.
As Hughes and company prepared to leave they mentioned Dennis Feduk as having given them the energy to continue their 211 km trek to Brandon.
"We received so many apple pies from your town, from a man named Dennis. They're fueling us to Brandon today," Hughes laughed.
Teacher and Student Leadership Team advisor, Amy Rutten was then presented with a Bell Let's Talk jersey for being someone who helps students reach their goals.
"That when the students figure out what they want to do with their lives that you're there, you're pushing them, and there to help them," Forgie explained as Rutten was presented with the jersey.
Rutten then presented Hughes with a Pink Day t-shirt signed by everyone and a Cougar t-shirt. The school then saw the three riders off from the front entrance, as some even had the chance for a high five or selfie before cheering the cyclists on their way.
