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Back to HomeFeature Article - February 16, 2012 A successful second year for the Sharbot Lake Snow Dragsby Julie Druker

Photo: Sharbot Lake Snow Drags at Oso beach

Since their rebirth last year the Sharbot Lake Snow Drags are steadily gaining in popularity. Close to 100 racers participated in a variety of classes, and despite severe cold and a brisk wind that made temperatures feel like -25 degrees C, a large crowd gathered at the beach in Sharbot Lake to watch the event.

Charlene Godfrey, who organized the event along with technical support from Justin Tryon, Dennis Scott and Mitch Cox, and with help from members of the Oso Recreation Committee and community volunteers, said the day ran smoothly. ”We got very positive feedback from the participants who said they appreciated how organized the event was,” Charlene reported.

Back-to-back races ran all day long roughly every 30 seconds. “The only blip was the fact that due to lack of daylight we had to run single elimination instead of double elimination heats, which began at 3pm.”

Many local businesses thrived as a result of the event. The Maples Restaurant was busy all day long and The Crossing Pub at the Sharbot Lake Country Inn was jammed for the trophy ceremony following the races. “The event is great for local businesses especially at this time of year,” Godfrey said. The Sharbot Lake and District Lions set up a make-shift canteen in the covered pavilion at the beach. They doubled their food stock for this year's event but were still sold out of food by 3pm.

The only mishap was an accident that occurred on site, though not in a racing event. It happened on the Medical Centre Road when a snowmobile struck a pedestrian. The District # Fire Department, who were the first responders on site for the day-long event, reacted quickly and according to Godfrey the victim was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Godfrey will be meeting with her committee and the community volunteers at a wrap up where they will discuss two possible options to extend the event to accommodate all of the races. One possibility to be discussed is adding lights to the site. A second is extending the event to two days instead of one.