2021 Season Newsletter

NRSA 2021 NEWSLETTER - TRACKS ARE TURNING IN NRSA TERRITORY!

Hope all have been staying safe and healthy during the pandemic, how time has changed over the past year! Our volunteers have been busy during the off season. Always being sure to follow our local health unit guidelines.

Believe it or not, preparations for this season began shortly after the 2019 riding season ended. No rest for the dedicated volunteers at North Renfrew Snowmobile Association, as they seem to live and breath snowmobiling for 12 months of the year! Their mantra is “If you can’t ride, you might as well be planning to ride!”

Budgetary planning for the 20/21 season began as soon as the fiscal year ended in March. With input from the Executive our dedicated Treasurer, John Montin worked tirelessly developing a budget based on last yr’s spending to submit for approval. John not only serves at the club level but also sits on the District Finance Committee working with budgets from all 14 clubs across the District.

During the summer, our groomer maintenance team have been hard at work! This year saw several upgrades as well as a full complement of preventive maintenance take place under the coordination of Clair Cox - NRSA Groomer Coordinator with a little bit of supervisory input from his protégé, Andrew Ahokas, who believes “if you are going to things, make sure you do them right!”. Their annual maintenance included taking the tracks off the groomer, inspecting and replacing bearings, painting the undercarriage, greasing, replacing hydraulic hoses, changing filters, oil, torqueing the cleats on the track and reinstalling the tracks. Our expert welders went over the drag and did some welding and then some painting.

All of these laborious tasks ensured another season of reliability from our groomer, however, the OFSC fleet management team had other plans underway which saw our club receive a brand new 2019 Prinoth Husky and Mogul Master drag on Sept 25! The old faithful 2015 Prinoth Husky that was a great unit for us, is being relocated to Whitewater Sno-Goers and the drag will be going to Snow Road Snowmobile Club, both clubs are part of our district.

I had the pleasure of being present with a few of our grooming team volunteers when the new groomer and drag arrived. It was just like seeing children on Christmas morning! Of course, their smiles were not visible, as all were wearing masks, but their body language showed the excitement nonetheless!

Last season saw the NRSA team of about 12 groomer operators off to a bit of a late start by packing the trails on January 4 and the trails were officially closed on March 16 due to Covid-19. Our grooming team still managed to put 603 hours in the groomer’s driving seat! Major accomplishment jammed into a short season. Excellent job done by Clair and his team of volunteers!

NRSA Landowner Coorindator Marvin Dupuis’s work seems never to stop! He began reaching out to landowners in early summer ensuring that the landowners’ concerns are addressed. His relationship with our landowners ensures that they are content. He spends many hours ensuring landowners are on board and that MOUs are signed and kept current! Not an easy job, but Marvin makes it look easy. Marvin, thank you for your dedication and commitment to ensure NRSA trails are available for snowmobilers!

NRSA annual general meeting took place a few months later than normal on Saturday September 27, outdoors at the groomer shed! Simon Lawson remains our President, Karen Crain is Vice-President/Secretary, John Montin is Treasurer, Directors are Bruce Boucher, Clair Cox, Doug Pinard, Marvin Dupuis and our Trail Coordinator is John King. As well, Bill Glover remains as our excellent Sign Coordinator. This yr’s AGM saw one of our past Directors step down for a well-deserved break. Rick Pyke, after close to 20 years involvement with NRSA in various capacities, has decided to make time for other endeavors. Thank You Rick! In lieu of our usual Appreciation meal/awards ceremony that could not take place due to the pandemic, we used the opportunity to present the coveted Volunteer of the Year award. This year’s recipient is non other than our dedicated groomer Coordinator, Clair Cox! He consistently manages all groomer related operations to such high standard that has led to NRSA trails being recognised as “beyond reproach!” in most organised snowmobiling circles …..Thanks Clair!

alt

NRSA Trail Team is hard at work removing down trees, culvert clearing to ensure trails will be ready for the season. Due to the ongoing pandemic, NRSA trail team has consisted of smaller work groups to ensure our local health unit guidelines are followed.

President’s Message

Hi Folks!

As this newsletter rolls out to the membership, I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone a snowy, safe, and most of all a healthy snowmobile season during these unprecedented times! We here at NRSA are learning as we go, while we prepare for the upcoming season. Many could say that we don’t know what we are doing, and I would whole heartedly agree. There is no manual or SOP on how to prepare for, or run a snowmobile season during a pandemic with many health restrictions. My commitment to you, the permit buyers and members of NRSA, is that we will do our best, and remain flexible as the season unfolds to produce a quality trail system for permit buyers to enjoy safely within the recommendations of the local health unit.

As the newsletter details, there has been much work done to date, getting things ready for that first blanket of fresh white gold! This work has been done by a dedicated group of dynamic, community orientated volunteers who ask for nothing in return, but in my experience, thrive on appreciation! Please if you have an opportunity, don’t hesitate to thank any volunteer from NRSA or across the Province who work hard on the trails or behind the scenes to make a 30,000km network of trails possible when Mother Nature cooperates!

I fully expect that this will be a banner year in our area as snowmobile sales are through the roof and anyone who believes in weather predictions of any sort are relaying the forecast for a snowy cold winter. If these are any indicators at all, it means that droves of sledders will be coming to ride and undoubtedly discover what we NRSA members already know……North Renfrew trails are awesome!

See You on the Trails!

Simon

Driver’s Training – Online Only

Online Driver Training is available online only, please visit the OFSC website link for more information and registration at https://www.ofsc.on.ca/driver-training

Season 2021 Update

NRSA’s Deep River & Chalk River Snowmobile Poker runs have been cancelled due to the pandemic. As well volunteers will not be installing outhouses, garbage cans or map boxes on our trails system this season. Please take your trash with you! Thanks!

NRSA Website: http://www.nrsa.ca

NRSA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthRenfrewSnowmobileAssociation

OFSC Interactive Trail Guide: https://ofsc.evtrails.com

OFSC Website: https://www.ofsc.on.ca

OFSC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gosnowmobilingontario