Finding snow for a fundraising ride through rural Saskatchewan may be a problem for the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles group.
The Feb. 3-10 ride could face muddy trails, but the event will go on, said group president Daphne Wickstrom of Wadena, Sask. If there is no snow, the riders will go in a van, making their four stops a day in communities on the 1,600 kilometre route. Their snowmobiles would be carried in a semi truck, awaiting better conditions.
The five previous rides brought in a total of $630,000 and this sixth year Wickstrom anticipates another sizable amount will be raised.
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“One hundred percent of everything we raise goes to breast cancer research,” said Wickstrom.
“We have corporate sponsors who pay the expenses such as fuel, meals, accommodation. The girls bring their own sleds.”
Women apply to be among the 10 core riders for the event. Most are rural dwellers although this year two are from Regina. Also, eight of the 10 core riders this year are new to the ride. The oldest woman rider is 66.
Wickstrom has participated in several rides, two as an independent rider, one as a core rider and two as the organizer. She said the route begins in Langenberg, Sask., on the Manitoba border and see-saws up and down the map as it moves west to cover 36 towns including Porcupine Plain, Naicam, Paddockwood, Rosthern, Lanigan, Humboldt and Wadena.
Each day new, independent riders can race along with the core group as it drives from one coffee or lunch break to the next.
None of the core riders this year has had breast cancer but some have relatives who are survivors and some are just there for the cause, said Wickstrom.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian women and the second most common cause of cancer death in women. Each year 2,300 Canadian women and 45 men die of it.
While other provinces hold women’s snowmobile charity events, Wickstrom said Saskatchewan is the only one that holds an event that is not sponsored by a machine manufacturer.
“We did try to do a prairie-wide event but it was too difficult to organize.”
In past years the Saskatchewan ride has invited representatives from Alberta and Manitoba but that enlarged the core group and became ” a burden on our sponsor,” said Wickstrom.
To find out more about the ride or to donate, check the website at www.prairiewomen.ca.
