Prairie Women on Snowmobiles to travel through southwest on 2019 mission
A group of dedicated women will be travelling through southwest Saskatchewan during a six-day trip in the province on their snowmobiles to raise funds for breast cancer research.
The Prairie Women on Snowmobiles team of 10 women and support crew will start the 2019 mission in Meadow Lake on Feb. 3 and end their journey of over 1,400 kilometres in Prince Albert on Feb. 8.
This is the 19th annual mission and Prairie Women on Snowmobiles President Kelly Kim Rae said each year’s route is different.
“Down in the southwest this is the first time we're coming there to most of those towns like Eatonia, Fox Valley and Maple Creek,” she said. “We've never been there before. So many people are pretty excited to have us come.”
Snow conditions might vary widely across the route, but the mission will continue and the group will visit each scheduled stop along their daily trip.
“No matter what, once the route is planned, we visit every single town on the route, even if there is no snow,” she said. “So if somewhere on our route we run out of snow, we load the sleds on the trailer and we continue on route. We always make every venue stop, no matter what. It just happens that sometimes the snowmobiles are on the trailer and the ladies are in the van. It's unfortunate, but the most important thing is to get out in public and get our message out to people about early detection of breast cancer.”
There will be a kick-off banquet in Meadow Lake on Feb. 2. The following day the group will travel southwards through St. Walburg, Turtleford and Meota to North Battleford. Each day the team will stop in four communities for a morning coffee break, lunch, an afternoon coffee break and their final stop, where there will be a supper event.
The Feb. 4 route will take them to Cut Knife, Unity, Kerrobert and Kindersley. On Feb. 5 they travel to Eatonia, Leader, Fox Valley and Maple Creek. They will visit Gull Lake, Swift Current, Kyle and Rosetown on Feb. 6. The journey will continue to Delisle, Biggar, Asquith and Martensville on Feb. 7. The 2019 mission concludes on Feb. 8 with visits to Hague, Duck Lake, MacDowall and the final stop in Prince Albert.
The women will travel on their snowmobiles whenever the conditions allow them to do that, and the trip can be physically challenging.
“Undertaking something like this is not for a beginner snowmobiler,” she said. “Unfortunately they can't handle it. Our riding conditions are tough. We don't ride on trails, lots of it is in the ditch. So you have to know how to handle your machine and yourself, and physically you have to be able to do it.”
The journey can also be an emotional challenge for core riders, because they will often meet cancer survivors or the families of those who lost the battle to cancer.
“There are a lot of tears,” she said. “We hear survivor stories, we hear people's stories who've lost people, their battles who're on it, including your own. You're dealing with that emotionally. So it's an emotional rollercoaster, but it's incredibly rewarding to do. Everyone who is taking part in it, right from being a volunteer pouring coffee and running a lunch stop to actually being a core rider and executive member or pit crew member. It's a life changing experience just to be a part of it and to see it. It's pretty phenomenal.”
Rea, who is a cancer survivor, was a core rider on the 2016 mission. Most of the core riders on each year’s mission have some personal experience with cancer and often with breast cancer specifically.
“They may have lost a loved one or someone close to them is a survivor, and sometimes it is those who are riding that are survivors,” she said. “So it's a pretty emotional connection for the survivors.”
Core riders are selected each year in May and they are required to raise at least $3,000 before Dec. 1 to officially qualify as a participant in the next mission trip.
The core riders on the 2019 mission are Brittany Fox from Lampman, Kim Hladun and Shawna Leson from Canora, Brandi Kashuba from Preeceville, Arlene Lockinger from Humboldt, Alison Taylor and Janis Stanley from Carievale, Shauna Menzel from Saskatoon, Kaylee Plamondon from Naicam, and Nadine Wiebe from Emma Lake.
People can show their support for the mission by riding along on their own snowmobiles along the route.
“It depends on the area that we're in, but we have pulled into a town with upwards of 50 sleds,” Rea said. “People really know us, they love to come along, and being a support rider is one of the ways that men can participate in it.”
Since 2000 these annual missions by Prairie Women on Snowmobiles have raised over $2.5 million for the Canadian Cancer Society for breast cancer research. For the last four years the missions have also raised funds for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and over $340,000 have been used to purchase equipment for Saskatchewan cancer clinics.
Prairie Women on Snowmobiles is a non-profit organization started by two friends, Carol Tulik from Fort Qu'Appelle and Jeannie Brewer, a breast cancer survivor from Regina Beach. They wanted to combine their love for snowmobiling with an event to raise awareness about breast cancer.
People can support the 2019 mission by making donations to core riders along the route or by attending events organized in communities that will be visited by the group. They can sponsor any of the riders or make a donation on the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles web page at www.prairiewomenonsnowmobiles.ca
There is also a raffle for a restored vintage snowmobile, a 1975 John Deere 340/S cross-country racer. Tickets are $5 each and will be sold along the mission route. Tickets can also be purchased from Rea by sending an e-mail to pwospres@gmail.com
Details about the location of different events in communities along the route, whether it is a coffee stop, lunch of supper event, are posted on the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles Facebook page (see events section), which is updated regularly as details of these events are received. There will also be regular updates during the mission to highlight the location of riders and their next stop.
The following information refers to some of the events that will take place in southwest Saskatchewan to welcome the core riders:
Feb. 5 – Eatonia Memorial Arena coffee stop at 10 a.m., Leader Friendship Centre lunch stop from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a soup and bun lunch, Fox Valley coffee stop at Sab’s Saloon II at 3 p.m.
Feb. 6 – Gull Lake Community Hall coffee stop at 10 a.m., Swift Current luncheon at Eagles Lounge (1910 South Service Road West) at noon.