After unseasonably warm temperatures melted the snow last year and forced the cancellation of the Duck Mountain Loppet, organizers of the event are expecting cross-country skiers will be especially enthusiastic returning next weekend.
Barring another heat wave, the 38th Duck Mountain Loppet will get underway at 8:30 a.m. on February 24 at the Duck Mountain Golf Resort parking lot, said Kev Sumner, Kamsack’s recreation director, who with members of the Kamsack Ski Club, is organizing the popular event.
As of the last meeting of organizers, snowfall is adequate, the trails have been set and will be re-set just prior to the Loppet, Sumner said, explaining that skiers have their choice of skiing a course of from five to 45 kilometres and some even go around twice, covering as much as 90 km of groomed trail through the beautiful Duck Mountain Provincial Park.
Positioned along the trails are several warm-up shelters staffed with volunteers.
Among the organizers’ biggest preoccupation is fostering increased participation from district skiers.
Very few of the 167 registered skiers at the Loppet two years ago were Kamsack and district residents, Sumner said.
As a way of encouraging younger participants, a special jackrabbit course of about three kilometres has been prepared. It includes a shelter that serves hot dogs, special natural attractions and a series of cut-out animals placed along the trail that the youngsters can identify.
“In the past, we’ve had a couple busloads of skiers from the Regina Ski Club and from Saskatoon,” Sumner said, adding that although this year he has been told that only one bus will be coming from Regina, plans are for another bus from Teulon, Man., to arrive.
In addition many individuals come to the area to participate in the loppet, he said.
Helping the stage the event is a group of about 20 volunteers, including Allan Bear, the Kamsack Ski Club president; Allan Konkin; Jim and Sharon Rudy, and Bruno Lemire, the “No. 1 go-to co-ordinator” who is “a fountain of knowledge” and main instigator and force behind the Loppet.
Because the restaurant at Madge Lake is currently not open, it falls to the committee to see that Loppet participants are fed and included in the registration fee of $30 for ski club members, or $35 for non-ski club members, is a meal which will be served during the afternoon at the Madge Lake Rec Hall.
As before, avid cross-country skiers will be able to have their “passports” stamped as proof that they have participated in the Loppet.
Sarah Burrows of Kamsack, who operates Full Throttle Event Solutions and who catered the dinner theatre in Kamsack in December, has been engaged to provide the meal and is preparing to feed up to 200 persons, Sumner said. On the menu are turkey meatballs, pulled pork, vegetable lasagna and chicken wings.
Among the district participants at the Loppet, and helping to organize the event, are Jim and Sharon Rudy who have been cross-country skiing and snowshoeing for about 30 years.
“Sharon has participated in 20 of the Duck Mountain Loppets, and I’ve been in 19,” Jim said last week, adding that they have skied cross-country in all the provinces from Manitoba to British Columbia.
“I plan to do the 30-kilometre trail,” he said.
“Cross-country skiing is very good for physical fitness and you get lots of fresh air,” Rudy said. “It’s great; a lifetime thing.
“We’ve skied all over and discovered that Madge Lake is the greatest place to ski. We have great trails and good staff to create them,” he said. “We’re so lucky to have this paradise so close to home.”
