Prairie Women cruise through Nipawin

By Rebecca Friesen

Prairie Women on Snowmobiles rode through town on Monday night and stopped in at the Evergreen for supper and spent the night at the Kingfisher before heading off on their journey again Tuesday morning.

The group is a non-profit organization and the do this every year. Each year the group consists of ten core volunteer snowmobilers who travel across Saskatchewan, approximately 1,800 m and taking eight days.

Volunteers are what makes this work for the girls. The riders, the pit crew, the drivers, and the resource team. It wouldn't work without them.

The 11 riders started their trip in Humboldt and are continuing on to finish in Warman. The goal is to raise money for breast cancer and breast cancer research.

Along they way they stopped at many cities and towns in hopes of raising money and awareness for the number one cancer in women and the number two cancer killer among women.

Statistics are that one in nine women will develop breast cancer at some point in their life and the girls hope to put a stop to that.

Each women told their story on why they were riding. Some were riding because cancer had personally affected their families and others were riding just because it's for a great cause combining awareness for breast cancer and what they love to do, snowmobile.

This year’s riders consisted of : Andrea Lehoux from Meadow Lake, Colette LeBlanc from Saskatoon, Crystal Paulson from Wadena, Jackie Toggweiler from Lakeland, Kelli Hayward from in between Martensville and Warman, Lisa Zunti from Warman, Mallory Sittler from Landis, Natelle Nordick from Engelfeld, Rosalie Vanderbuhs from Engelfeld, Tracy Schwebius from Wilkie and an alternate rider Terri Ferguson from Star City.

Every year the group of women changes according to who is available and where the trip takes them.

If you would like to see who rode this year and get to know a little bit about them you can go online and check out the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles website atwww.prairiewomen.ca. Through this website you can also follow the girls on their trails and donate to their cause as well.

The organization was started in 2000 and since then the group of core girls, secondary riders, and core riders have managed to raise over 1.6 million dollars.

The evening also had a silent auction set up at the back where all the proceeds went towards breast cancer. There was a Choko Jacket, a “trail of Hope” picture and a package put together by the Evergreen Centre consisting of a snuggie, golf balls and other stuff.

The Royal Purple in Nipawin presented the girls with a check for $200 and so did the Nipawin Elks. The Nipawin Twin Lake Trail Blazers presented the girls with a check for $140 which was what supper cost and they picked up the bill and another check for $100 as a donation. The Melfort snowmobile Club also donated a check for $500 and the girls were all very happy to see that what they were doing was actually working and raising awareness.

Together the girls hope to raise awareness and put an end, or at least find a cure for breast cancer.