viking ski club
 

 

August 28, 2022
Brent McCosker, President, Viking Ski Club
If you haven’t already, mark your calendar for the Viking ski club AGM: Saturday, September 24 at 1:30pm (after a BBQ lunch at morning trail clearing). If you have marked your calendar, circle the date; this is your chance to ask questions and comment on club activities, or just say hello and get informed. Please indicate your presence to our new Secretary, Jack Rudnicki at jackrudnicki1@gmail.com.
It has been an honor to serve as President of the Viking Ski Club for the past three years. Two out of the three years a lot of energy was spent dealing with health safety issues. The positive side of the pandemic is that more people discovered the beauty of cross country skiing and therefore our club registered record numbers of members over the past couple years.
The club’s fastest growing program, 22 caliber Biathlon, has a new challenge: it must find a new training site. The existing site in Ste-Agathe is closing.
A few important highlights from the ski season: (my apologies for any omissions)

  • After a year pandemic hiatus, the 50th Viking Loppet was held in February.
  • A new live trail grooming report was initiated thanks to Dave Marshall’s efforts. We’ll continue to use this relatively inexpensive, high positive impact service in upcoming seasons.
  • The club completed the Sheldon Racing Trail improvement grant.
  • We applied for and received a new grant to improve the 40 some km of crown land trails. The logistics and terrain are proving to be more challenging but this also means that our trail management skills are improving.

Important note for the upcoming season and registration fees: There is much talk these days about the cost of everything increasing. At the August Viking board meeting we felt enough is enough! All fees will remain the same as last season. Though costs are increasing for the club, our excellent financial position allows us to do this. That’s the good news. The difficult news is, Viking ski club revenue has exceeded a threshold that now requires us to apply sales tax to certain services. Revenue Quebec exempts youth athletic programs, therefore, there will be NO sales tax applied to our youth ski programs.
Finally, I wish to thank all the volunteers which help make the Viking Ski Club an exceptional organization. I must recognize one group in particular. After the intense storm this summer, volunteers surveyed resulting trail damage. On the Sheldon Racing Trail alone, we counted over 120 trees down blocking access. The crew: Doug Bowes-Lyon, Chris Teron, John Masse, Dave Marshall, Jeff Eamon, Jean-Pierre Campeau, Derek Wills, Gordon Cohen, Philip Harrison and I completed the task over several Saturdays.

Brent McCosker
President, Viking ski club