Dan Corkum of Grande Prairie enjoys a bowl of hot chili after the ride.

With windchills approaching minus 20 degrees Celsius on Saturday, April 19, an overwhelming number of riders refused to be beaten by the elements. The 5th anniversary of the Whitemud quad rally drew 235 machines who’s handlers bore 680 poker hands in support of the Falher Regional Recreation Complex. This prompted organizers to label the event a complete success, despite the unseasonable weather it ushered it. “The participants were quite impressed with the set-up,” according organizer Lorraine Desaulniers. “We were extremely organized this year and ready to face the cold weather. People were happy with the trail and the quick way in which the cards were handed out at the check points.” Fortuitously, this was the first year the camp area included a food tent. With propane heaters blazing inside, participants were afforded the opportunity to take the chill off and get refreshed. “I don’t think we could have done it without (the tent),” remarked Desaulniers. With every successful year, word of the event travels. This year’s rally attracted participants from as far away as Chetwynd, Vegreville, Wabasca, St Albert, Beaumont, Airdrie and Manning. Grande Prairie’s Dan Corkum finished the trail in approximately 3 ½ hours and had to comment on how well set up the event was. “Better than work!” remarked Corkum. As with any event of this magnitude, it could not come off without an immeasurable effort from volunteers. “We can’t even begin to count the number of volunteer hours that go into organizing this rally,” says Desaulniers. “We begin in January. We have a group of about 10 guys who help get the camp ready and organize the trail, another two or three who do the PR putting up posters and collecting prizes, about another 10 ladies who make chili for the event. On the day of the event we had, on location, 45 workers.” Among the prizes gathered were a set of quad mags and tires donated by RedLine Powercraft Limited. These were taken home by Brandon Dodds. The Royal Flush prize of a new Arctic Cat 700 EFI Quad was sponsored by Falher Ford, however there was no Royal Flush winner. First Prize of $1000.00 was claimed by Lenard Merrier of Wabasca with a hand of four of a kind. Second prize of $500 went to Gilbert Lefebvre of Girouxville, and Denis Guindon of Falher netted $300 cash for third place. Organizers also wanted to thank Luc Desaulniers, Marc Desaulniers and Jamie Berube for allowing the event to take place on their property free of charge and for helping to set up the tent and prepare the grounds. Thanks also went out to Champion Technologies for use of the barbeque, Ross Ag for use of the truck and trailer, to Parkland Fertilizers for building picnic tables, Top Gun Oilfield Services for the washroom facilities and to all others sponsors who generously donated door prizes. Through support like this, Desaulniers sees “...that we grow closer to our goal of completeing the Falher Regional Recreation Complex.” “We raised $10,700.00 in hand sales and another $3020.00 in concessions, T-shirt sales and 50/50 ticket sales,” says Desaulniers. “Thanks to continued support from the participants and the labours of our organizers this was another successful year.” Desaulniers is eager to hear the feedback from participants about this year’s rally. “We always take into consideration the suggestions of the participants and volunteers and try to implement those into the next year’s event... We are already taking notes for next year.” Any suggestions can be passed on to Desaulniers at 837-2707 or to Kimber at 837-8777. “We are sure that next year the turnout will be huge! Imagine if we had the weather on our side!”