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Prairie Women on Snowmobiles to visit Kamsack on Sunday

On Sunday, Kamsack residents will be able to greet the 10 women who are members of the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles (PWOS) Mission 2017 and their support crew.
holly and kelly
Holly Hudye, left, of Norquay and Kelly Kim Rea of Pelly were included in the group of 10 women who were part of the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles tour in 2016 when they travelled from Prince Albert to Broadview. They were photographed as the group had arrived in Canora where they had been served lunch.

 

            On Sunday, Kamsack residents will be able to greet the 10 women who are members of the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles (PWOS) Mission 2017 and their support crew.

            The tour, which is to begin on Sunday at Hudson Bay, will end after a 1,400-kilometre route in Star City on February 3. The objective is to raise money for breast cancer treatment and research.

            After leaving Hudson Bay, the group is to travel to Endeavour, Stenen and Canora, to arrive in Kamsack where the members will spend the night.

On their first day of the tour in 2007, the women on the tour, after having had their supper in Kamsack, spent the night at Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

            After leaving Kamsack early Monday morning, the tour will make stops at Rhein, Yorkton, Theodore and Foam Lake. On the third day it will visit Wadena, Archerwell, Naicam and Humboldt; the third day, Lanigan, Watrous, Clavet and Warman; the fifth day, Meacham, Cudworth, St. Brieux and Melfort, and on the last day, Tisdale, Porcupine Plain, Mistatim and Star City.

            At each community the tour visits, it is often the case that members of the local snowmobile club join the women.

Asked about plans to sled alongside the women as they enter and leave Kamsack on Sunday, Gary Clark, president of the Kamsack Sno-Drifters snowmobile club, said last week before the almost daily snowfall, that if more snow does not fall before Sunday, it might not be possible to snowmobile in the area.

“We have not yet been able to set our trails,” Clark said last week, regarding the area’s lack of an abundance of snow.

As has happened in previous years, when snowfall is not adequate for snowmobiling, the women and their sleds are picked up by flatbed truck and transported to the next community on the tour which has a sufficient snow cover.

After arriving at Nykolaishen Farm Supply at about 6 p.m. on January 29, the women and their crew will be having supper at Lam’s Restaurant courtesy of the Sno-Drifters. Breakfast is being arranged for the group at the Prairie Grain Bakery and Deli at about 6:30 Monday morning.

            Kelly Kim Rae of Pelly, who was one of the 10 women on the tour last year, is now serving as president of the organization.

Riders for this year include Joan Phinney of Kindersley, Heather Mohr of Clavet, Lori Fontaine of Prince Albert, Estelle Sowinski of Candle Lake, Elma Fischer of Elfros, Wendy Stevenson of Saskatoon, Karla Gervais of Yorkton, Candace Blair of Star City, Karen Wudrich-Mattock of Leask and Arlene Lockinger of Humboldt.

            As in previous years, the Kamsack Cancer Self Help Group will be holding a soup-and-sandwich luncheon to raise money for the tour as well as for Victoria’s Quilts. This year’s luncheon, which will be the 16th annual fundraising luncheon, will be held at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church on February 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

            Preparations are for about 100 persons, said an organizer of the luncheon. At least six different soups, prepared by volunteers, will be available, in addition to an assortment of sandwiches and dainties, pickles, tea and coffee.

“Prairie Women On Snowmobiles is a non-profit organization whose annual Missions are provincial awareness events that are designed to focus attention on breast cancer and the recreation of snowmobiling as well as raise the much-needed funds for breast cancer research,” says the group’s website. Prairie Women On Snowmobiles has contributed 100 per cent of the funds raised in the past 16 Missions for breast cancer research raising more than $2.3 million to date.

“In the past four years, $128,000 has also been raised for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency which has been used to purchase equipment for medical facilities in Saskatchewan, it said.

Prairie Women On Snowmobiles was formed when two friends, one a breast cancer survivor, decided to snowmobile across Saskatchewan to raise funds for breast cancer research, it said. Together the two planned, organized and implemented PWOS. The goal since conception is to have this Mission go across Saskatchewan each and every year to raise the funding for breast cancer research.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian women and the second most common cause of cancer death in women, it says.