聽 聽 聽The 22nd Annual Arcola Snowmobile Rally was a success before it started.
聽聽聽聽 Although the over 100 kilometres of scenic snowmobile trails winding through the Moose Mountains and Moose Mountain Provincial Park had minimal snow cover this year, Optimist Club secretary-treasurer Glen Lawson of Arcola, says, 鈥淲e know where we are (financially) before the day starts.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he key is our sponsorship. That allows us to do this risk-free.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e also have a lot of community organizations, such as the High School, the Arcola Firefighters, the (Moose Mountain) 4-H, and the figure-skating club that work the event and benefit from it, too.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 This year the snowmobile rally hosted riders from: Arcola, Alida, Carnduff, Grenfell, Kenosee Lake, Langham, Manor, Melfort, Melville, Norquay, Outlook, Regina, Saskatoon, Storthoaks, and Birtle, Manitoba.
聽聽聽聽 Previously, as many as 500 riders have participated in the day-long event, and one year, says Lawson, there was almost no snow.
聽聽聽聽 鈥淭hat year, we just opened it up,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e awarded all the rider prizes anyway, and it turned out to be a great day. It's always scheduled for the last Saturday in January, and we always are able to make it work.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 鈥淚t's really a community fundraiser,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his year, the bulk of the Optimists' share (of the proceeds) will go to the (MacMurray) theatre. We also partner with Prairie Place, the Arcola Curling Club, the (Arcola) daycare, and the Moose Mountain Wildlife Fund, along with the groups who work the rally with us.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽 Most of this year's participants started their rides in the Prairie Place parking lot. However, due to the light snow cover, many riders hauled their trailers and machines to the nearby trails in search of more snow, and rode from there.
聽聽聽聽聽 Volunteers from the Moose Mountain Snowmobile Club, provincial park staff, and members of the Optimist Club usually mark and groom trails for the event. This year, each rider received a map of the area and chose their own routes.
聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲ith the (lack of) snow in places, the trails would be trashed pretty quickly if a couple of hundred sleds went over them all at once,鈥� said one rider. 鈥淭here's just not enough snow for that this year.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽 Brandon Englot of Manor has participated in the Arcola rally, 鈥淔or years, for sure. It's always a good ride.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 Englot's cousin, Tim Englot, and Kourtlin Hodgson, both of Manor, along with Travis Benner and Taylor Hoey of Arcola, attracted attention with their entry-an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) pulling a couch.
聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e came up with (the idea) pretty quickly, and spent all day yesterday putting it together,鈥� laughed Englot.
聽聽聽聽 Another rider, Eileen Corrigan of Arcola, says,鈥� It was surprisingly good. The trails were actually pretty good, once you got going.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 Mechanic Osama Amin of Arcola, who hails from Giza, Egypt, declared his first-ever snowmobile ride as, 鈥淎wesome.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 Snowmobilers weren't the only people who enjoyed the event. From the early-morning pancake breakfast until the finale, Prairie Place Hall hosted hundreds, many of whom held tickets for the draw of 65 prizes.
聽聽聽聽 鈥淭his year, we sold out of our (2,500) tickets on the sleds,鈥� said Optimist Club president, Blake Brownridge. 鈥淲e sold tickets from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia.鈥�
聽聽聽聽 The winner of the grand prize draw was Kevin Freitag of Arcola, who claimed a Polaris side by sise as his prize. As holder of the winning ticket, Freitag could choose between a Polaris 800 Switchback Pro-S snowmobile, a Polaris Scrambler 1000EPS 4X4 quad, or a Polaris RZR 8001e EPS side by side. The winner of a covered trailer was Damon Sutherland of Lampman, while Paul Coombs of Carlyle and Jordan Carter of Toronto each won $1,000.
聽聽聽聽 However, the rally's perennial winners are always the community organizations that the Optimists support, according to Brownridge.
聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n the over 20 years we've been doing this, we've contributed close to $850,000 to community projects,鈥� Brownridge told the crowd. 鈥淭hat's pretty cool.鈥�
