Cycling club beats odds en route to $10K prize
After an intense three-week campaign in February, Contagious Mountain Bike Club (CMBC) was elated at the news it received Monday morning 鈥� it has won the Western Division of Mountain Equipment Co-op's Dirt Search contest.
After an intense three-week campaign in February, Contagious Mountain Bike Club (CMBC) was elated at the news it received Monday morning 鈥� it has won the Western Division of Mountain Equipment Co-op's Dirt Search contest.
The 170-member Whitehorse-based club competed against nine others located throughout western Canada for the most online votes for its proposed trail project and the $10,000 prize.
Those competitors included big cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as world-renowned mountain biking destination Whistler, where the local mountain bike club boasts over five times the members as Contagious.
The club won the contest by collecting more than 6,500 votes.
"It came down to community,鈥� said club president Sierra van der Meer. "When our board decided to sponsor the Carcross Singletrack to Success (S2S) Project for the $10,000 prize, it was because we wanted to support a worthwhile initiative.
"In retrospect, that decision probably won us the contest. What started out as a long shot at $10,000 turned into something that many Yukoners 鈥� cyclists, trail enthusiasts, First Nations, you name it 鈥� could get behind.鈥�
Carcross Tagish Management Corporation's CEO Justin Ferbey called the community's support remarkable.
"That money will put more local youth to work building trails on Montana Mountain this summer, but it's equally important to them that their entire territory, and even voters from places as far away as the southern United States, rallied in support of them,鈥� he said.
That show of support wasn't just limited to the Yukon public, either.
Early into the contest, Yukon Energy Corporation offered to sponsor S2S, pledging $1 per vote up to $2,000 and promoting the contest widely.
"That was unexpected, and very appreciated,鈥� said Jane Koepke with S2S. "It was one of many community-minded gestures that we witnessed during the contest and it gave Contagious and ourselves the motivation to campaign as hard as we could.鈥�
Added Koepke: "I'm delighted to report that Contagious received over three times that 2,000 vote target, and the S2S trail crew will benefit from that maximum contribution from YEC.鈥�
The announcement of the contest result may have some in southern Canada scratching their heads, but for Contagious, it has served to reinforce what they knew all along.
"We may be a very small place, but we're capable of anything when we work together,鈥� said van der Meer.
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