Mar 02, 2016


Ruth Wark, president of the Snow Road Snowmobile Club, wore a brave face Saturday morning despite having had to cancel the ride portion of the club's second annual snowmobile Ride for Dad fundraiser. The ride was scheduled to take place on February 27 but a snow/ice/rain storm last week wreaked havoc with area trails, which were dangerously water logged and covered with fallen branches and trees.

The cancellation was decided on Thursday by Wark and the other two organisers, Shelby Knight and Brandon Crain, but the three also decided to carry on with the other events that were planned to go with the ride.

Therefore, while the actual ride was canceled and the news went out online, riders who had raised pledges were still invited to drop them off at the club, take home prizes and enjoy a hot lunch and a full course spaghetti dinner.

Wark said she was very disappointed at having to cancel the ride since she was looking forward to a bigger ride this year following last year's extremely successful event, which attracted close to 100 riders and raised $8500 for prostate cancer research. “When I saw the state of the trails after the storm I almost cried. Last year's ride so hugely surpassed our expectations, especially since it was the first ever snowmobile Ride For Dad to be held in District 1. We were really hoping to see even more riders this year.”

The ride this year was dedicated to the late Wayne Southward, a long time snowmobile enthusiast and volunteer with the Ompah and Snow Road snowmobile clubs as well as with the K&P Snow Trails. Southward was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2015 and passed away on January 19, 2016.

However, throughout the day, Wark was pleased to see a number of riders arrive at the club to drop off their pledges and sit down for a meal. A number of them also took home prizes donated by individuals and local businesses, as well as by other businesses from as far away as Westport, Perth, Peterborough, Carleton Place, Tamworth and Kemptville. Up for grabs were a number of helmets, boots and other trail gear, gift certificates and gift cards, resort packages and much more.

In an effort to try to give those who did show up on their machines a chance to get out on the local trails, Brandon Crain and a number of other volunteer groomers had been working around the clock since early Friday morning to clear some of the trails close by, including the K&P trail south to Sharbot Lake and north to Flower Station so that riders could at least go for a ride.

I met five riders from Snow Road on my way to the club on Saturday morning who had registered for the ride and took to the trails and enjoyed the day. By the end of the day $7,200 was raised - not too shabby for a ride that was canceled. Wark said that she has every intention of running the event next year.

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