Whats Up Magazine Huntsville Lake of Bays - What's Up Muskoka

Exciting events make winter bearable
Around Huntsville
By Don McCormick
Well, we’re
pretty well half
way through
winter and I’m
still able to
maintain my
enthusiasm for
the season. This
is due, in part, to
the relatively
mild winter we’re
having and also to the plethora of
interesting and exciting events and
activities that winter in Huntsville
affords.
If you haven’t already attended a
Hunters Bay Classic three-on-three
hockey tournament you’re missing a
great event. The event is held each year
on the second weekend in January. It
was started by a couple of neighbours
– Dan Caswell and Derek Punchard –
on Huntsville’s Hunters Bay. Punchard
had always built an outdoor rink and,
in 2000, the two neighbours decided
to have a three-on-three hockey tournament
on Punchard’s rink in front of
his Hunters Bay home.
“The tournament was intended to
be just a fun event with a bunch of
local guys getting together to play
some shinny on the lake and have
some fun,” recounts Caswell.
But, when Punchard was diagnosed
with cancer and started a very difficult
two-year period of intensive treatment,
the decision was made to turn the
event into a fundraiser for the Canadian
Cancer Society. To date, they have
raised over $40,00 for cancer research.
But, that didn’t take away from the
original intention of having a fun tournament
and that is exactly the
ambiance surrounding the event. The
players chip in to help with the set-up.
Sponsors provide food and beverages
for the participants. There’s a smaller
rink for the kids to play on. They have
even set up lights for night games. The
play is spirited, the competition
intense and the level of play is high.
The number of teams is capped at
16 and everybody makes the playoffs.
The games are 12 minutes long with
the play being continuous. Most of the
teams are local but some teams travel
considerable distances to take part in
this tournament. This year’s winning
team came from Belle River near
Windsor.
Looking down onto the rink from
Punchard’s deck is a Norman Rockwell
moment. Men getting a chance to be
boys again, playing a beautiful game in
its purest form. It’s classic Canadiana.
The following weekend, Arrowhead
Provincial Park and the Arrowhead
Nordic Ski Club hosted the first event
of the 2010 Ontario Winter Games.
14 February 2010 www.whatsupmuskoka.com
Skiers of all ages test their speed and endurance at the 29th annual Muskoka Loppet in Arrowhead Provincial
Park. This year the race attracted 184 skiers.
About 100 of Ontario’s best crosscountry
skiers between the ages of 15
and 18, along with about 20 of their
coaches and another 40-50 support
people, were in town for the event.
The sprint event, as its name
implies, is a full out sprint using the
skating technique over a very hilly
one-kilometre course that the competitors
complete in about two-anda–half
to three minutes.
The event is very spectator-friendly.
The skiers go out in waves so there are
always racers out on the course and
they are visible for quite a bit of the
time. There are very exciting nose-tonose
sprints to the finish lines. A Bracebridge
skier, Natalia Hawthorn, won a
silver medal in the juvenile girls race.
The classic race, held on Sunday,
takes place on a seven-and-a-half kilometer
course for the juveniles and a
10-kilometre course for the juniors.
There is a mass start where the skiers
sprint across the stadium to get out in
front before the trail narrows to two
tracks. They then disappear into the
woods for the next 25 to 40 minutes
and you don’t see them again until
they burst out of the woods for the
sprint to the finish line. Natalia
Hawthorn won a silver medal in this
event as well.
The remaining Ontario Winter
Games are scheduled for March 4-7
but the Nordic events were moved up
to this weekend so the top skiers in the
province could attend. The event
earned rave notices for the venue, the
terrain the courses, the volunteers, the
organization and the work of the park
staff from this very knowledgeable and
sophisticated cross-country racing
crowd. It was a great dry run for the
Ontario Winter Games organizers and
a great start to the Games.
The very next weekend, Arrowhead
Provincial Park and the Arrowhead
Nordic Ski Club were once again in
the spotlight hosting the 29th annual
Muskoka Loppet. This event was started
in 1970, grew to be the biggest loppet
in Ontario and, in 1989, died
because there was no one willing to
carry on with the organization. In
2002, the Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club
resurrected the event and has run it
every year since. It has grown in popularity
with 184 skiers – the largest
number to date in the resurrected version
– participating in the 2010 event.
There was also a snowshoe race held
in conjunction with the Muskoka
Loppet. Last year was the inaugural
year. Four people took part in that
race. This year, there were 43 people in
the race – a tenfold increase in participation.
The weekends of Jan. 29-31 and
Feb. 5-7 brought 1,700 pond hockey
players to town for the 5th annual
Canadian National Pond Hockey
Championships at Deerhurst Resort.
The first weekend featured the open
class mens’ and womens’ championships
and the young (25+) men’s
recreational championships. These are
the most competitive divisions. The
second weekend showcases the older
(35+) mens’ and womens’ master’s
divisions and the womens’ recreational
division.
This year’s event featured a very special
guest – Walter Gretzky. He has
been named honorary coach for the
championships. Tournament organizers
will be staging a sports memorabilia
auction, with all proceeds going to
the Walter & Wayne Gretzky CNIB
Blind Youth Scholarship Program.
Well, I’m out of space already! Once
again, there’s more going on in
Huntsville in the winter than I have
space to give to it. There’s the Port
Sydney Winter Carnival, the Cann
Lake skating and hockey rinks, men’s
day at Hidden Valley Ski Area, the
Kelly Shires Cancer Snow Run and on
and on.
Until next time, get out there and
enjoy winter!
We welcome our readers’ comments and insight.
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E-mail: editor@northcountrymedia.com
Mail: PO Box 180, Bracebridge, ON P1L 1T6
Photograph: Don McCormick