Snowmobilers eye 2022 racing season

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This article was published 05/02/2021 (1901 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the last major social gatherings for Russell and Waywayseecappo First Nation took place March 7-8, 2020, when residents hosted a pair of snow drag racing events in their respective communities.

Even though this two-day affair was a major hit, attracting hundreds of snowmobilers from across Canada and even the United States, the organizers ultimately decided to cancel their planned followup for 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This decision was not easy for Garry Naherniak, who helped bring these kinds of races back to the community of Russell for the first time in more than a decade.

However, he told the Sun on Tuesday that cancelling their 2021 festivities is definitely the right move, since the coronavirus still represents a very clear and present danger within the province.

“Even if we were able to have (the races) with a restricted amount of people, we still don’t want to bring a bunch of people into Manitoba if we don’t have to,” he said, referencing the fact that last year’s races featured visitors from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Instead, Naherniak revealed that he and Waywayseecappo race organizers Richard Shingoose and Anthony Longclaws are already looking ahead to the future, hoping to build off what they managed to accomplish last March.

After all, by combining the sixth annual Waywayseecappo snow drag races with a brand-new Russell event, Naherniak said they were able to create a competitive atmosphere that is unlike anything he has seen in that part of Westman.

“We ran like 140 races (on Saturday) and we didn’t finish until it was pretty well pitch dark,” he said. “We started at 12 o’clock and we were letting races go every couple minutes … and it was phenomenal.”

Naherniak said this two-day affair also served as a fitting tribute to the father-son duo of Jim and Cory Duncan, who used to put together these kinds of races in Russell before their untimely deaths in August 2006.

Not only did local organizers name a race the “Cory and Jim Duncan Memorial” in their honour, but Helen Duncan — Jim’s wife and Cory’s mother — was also on hand to present a trophy to the winners of that particular event.

“She bought a two-and-a-half-foot trophy to give out for the best race of the day,” Naherniak said.

However, even though there is no organized snowmobile racing to look forward to this winter, Naherniak revealed that this extended offseason isn’t stopping local residents from enjoying the hobby on their own terms.

In fact, he revealed that new outdoor recreation equipment is hard to come by these days, with people looking for different ways to occupy their time under lockdown conditions.

“I don’t think you can buy a snowmobile from any of the dealers,” he said. “They’ve sold out completely because some people who don’t even know what it’s about are going that route, to stay sane.”

Naherniak includes himself in that category, since he and his family have been taking their sleds out regularly, making sure to maintain physical distance from the fellow riders they meet along the way.

“You have to be careful,” he said. “A lot of the warmup shacks aren’t open because it would allow for the gathering of too many people.”

Still, despite the isolation and the destructive impact of COVID-19, Naherniak is at least happy that people are using this unprecedented period in human history to rediscover the great outdoors, whether that be through snowmobiling, cross-country skiing or ice fishing.

“People are getting out of the house, getting off their phones and off their computers. I like to see that,” he said. “There’s a lot of beautiful country to see in Manitoba.”

Moving forward, Naherniak and his fellow event organizers from Waywayseecappo are looking to channel that energy into the area’s 2022 snow drag races, which will hopefully feature increased participation and double the prize money.

“We know we’ll have one of the biggest in Canada next year. We’ll go bigger and better,” he said. “And as for right now, we’ll just be ice fishing.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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