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!
Snow in La Ronge – put the quads away!
Advertisement
It’s now looking like the north end of the Challenge trail has more than enough snow to race on. On Friday, December 30, volunteers (headed up by Cliff Jessup) cleared the 8-km section of bush trail between Weyakwin and Montreal Lake. The trail had good snow cover and, after it was cleared, it got more snow that evening. As you move north, the snow gets even heavier with the most snow at the Grandmother’s Bay and Stanley Mission end.
Any musher wanting to see the north end of the Challenge trail can sign up for the two-day Neckbone race set to go January 28 & 29, 2012. The Neckbone does not cover all of the Challenge trail, but it will show mushers a full 100 miles of it.