Ompah's ATV run back by popular demand, but not without glitches

Sep 25, 2014

Organizers of the Ompah Volunteer Community Association’s Fall ATV run on Sept. 20 were thrilled that the annual event was able to take place this year even though the Ompah fire hall and community centre, which has been under renovations, was not ready to fully host the event.

Lindy Hay helps organize and run the ATV run along with its founders Denis Bedard and Rose Boivin of the Double “S” Marina in Ompah and their crew of volunteers.

Hay said she and her crew decided to cancel the event roughly three weeks ago, but there was such an outcry from riders that they decided to go ahead with it even though they could not host the dinner.

Over 300 riders attended the ride, which is a popular one for ATV enthusiasts from across Ontario and Quebec.

Unfortunately this year’s run included an unexpected glitch. Members of the OPP's Safe program came to promote trail safety, but Hay and some other volunteers said that they treated a number of the participating riders unfairly.

“Normally we are pleased to see the OPP,” Hay said when I spoke to her in Ompah on the day of the run. “They (the OPP) are usually great and help make riders aware of safety issues and normally ticket those who do not comply. But that was not the case this time around. Today they were ticketing people for going over 20 km/hour, unaware that the speed limit in town recently changed to 60 km/hour, meaning that ATVs can go 50km/hour on the road.” Hay said that riders were also being stopped and being asked to remove their two-ups while on the road and were being forced to walk the road portions of the ride between the trails to avoid receiving a ticket.

Hay said that as a last-minute solution, ride volunteers ran a shuttle service for some of the two-up riders so that they could be shuttled to where they had to go and avoid being ticketed. “We really try to make this event a family friendly run and the riders were really grateful for our assistance. As a result many of them donated to the association the amount of money that they might have been ticketed by the OPP, which was really generous of them.” Funds raised from the event go to the Ompah Volunteer Community Association, who support the community hall, the local fire hall, the fire fighters and others in need in the community. Congratulations to the winners of this year’s prizes: Jenn Sargeant who won the ATV trail seat; Henry Dekroon who took home the carrying case; and Ralph Coleman who won the helmet. Though this year’s run did not go as smoothly as usual, Hay said she hopes that things will be back to normal for the association’s next Spring run in 2015.