Happy New Year to all!
Thanks to Sid, Cliff and everyone who was out working the trail this weekend. They’re doing it for the Neckbone as well, so it will be well proved out by the time the Challenge runs. The Neckbone is slated for Jan 28 and 29, and runs from Stanley Mission to Weyakwin over two days.
I’ll be heading south today and checking snow conditions on the southern part of the trail, but it looks like we’ll be OK.
Entries are coming in now – I understand three teams are coming from Churchill, Man. We have at least five others that I know of. The fun begins!
We have the 50:50 tickets – only 2500 sold, $5 apiece – talk to a board member to get some to sell! (Sorry, they can only be sold in Saskatchewan). If we sell them all, the winner gets $6,250 in cash – well, probably a cheque!)
We’re watching the river ice in Prince Albert, and may have to start north of the river if conditions are not good. Stay tuned . . .
Sorry we still can’t post a purse – still looking for sponsors – will post as soon as possible. We have a board meeting this coming week and will review our position then.
In the meantime, onward and upward – keep training and we’ll keep working the trail and the money end.
51 days to go . . . .
Have a great holiday and drive safe, whether road or trail.

Snow in La Ronge – put the quads away!

Snow will definitely help things along – I for one was getting a little worried, especially at the south end of the trail! I should have more faith in winter!
We have our first entry! – Stefaan signed up last week (congrats, Stefaan), and we’re now waiting for some others we have heard are imminent.
Bernie is keeping some office hours but he has places to be too, so if he’s not there, call him on the cell at 961-9873 and he’ll meet you. Julie is not working this year, which makes things a little more difficult in terms of contact. I was planning to spend a day in the office last week with my computer to get some things organized, but my laptop has gone missing after a trip to Saskatoon, so I have nothing to work on.
Your board is hard at work trying to drum up sponsors – between us we have approached more than 45 potential sponsors, but the money is slow in coming. It’s getting a lot harder, with many now requiring online applications which cuts out the personal approach and makes it more impersonal (and easier for them to say no, in my opinion). Also, we have to do evaluations and there’s a lot of admin time. We’ll keep you posted.
We are discussing trying out SPOT GPS this year, at least on the 12-dog sleds – still looking for the expertise to turn that into a trackable web page. That stage likely won’t happen this year – we’ll just test the feasibility. The final decision will be made at the Jan 4 board meeting.
We had an inquiry about a youngster (15) running the 8-dog race, and there’s nothing in the rules to say he can’t, so we look forward to his entry!
We are considering changing the Weyakwin checkpoint to split the run from Elk Ridge to LT’s more evenly. Currently looking at the feasibility of using the McLennan River campsite, just south of Halfway House, which might work if it’s well ploughed out. There’s a small overflow area at the top of the hill too. We’re checking with Highways to see if they will clean it out for us. Be nice to get feedback on that.
Merchandise – we still have a lot of shirts etc left from last year so we will focus on selling those; we are adding some logo’d neckwarmers to the lineup for something new.
Our 50:50 raffle tickets will be ready next week; please let Bernie know if you can sell some for us. There are 2500 tickets at $5 each, for a potential cash prize of $6,250. Not bad!
Till next time – keep in touch – keep us on the straight and narrow, which you always do!
Merry Christmas to all! See you on the trail in 2012!