SOUTH RIVER, Ont. — Meet Tim Butson, Stephen Todoroff, Jessica Switzer and Matt Paquette.
The four residents of South River and Sundridge are the volunteers behind the scenes who are teaming up to ensure this weekend’s South River Sled Dog Races go off without a hitch.
Thanks to Paquette, the event has become an annual ritual in South River.
Pre-pandemic, Paquette was living elsewhere and had been involved in the sport of sled dog racing for more than a decade when a friend introduced him to the Almaguin Community Trail next to Almaguin Highlands Secondary School.
The friend wanted to know if the trail, which was primarily used for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, hiking, walking and cycling, could host sled dog events.
Paquette immediately saw the potential and contacted several organizations that hold sled dog racing events.
Only the Sleddog Sports Association of Southern Ontario showed an interest and representatives visited the site.
Paquette says the sled dog association suggested where the trail could be widened so it could support sled dogs and their mushers.
The first event was in 2022 and was not promoted because Ontario was still feeling the impact of COVID.
That event was held as a fun run, with only a handful of participants.
But Paquette recalls it was well received and in the second year was turned into a race featuring different categories.
Jessica Switzer, Paquette’s partner, was introduced to sled dogging during the fun run and can’t believe how quickly the event has grown.
Thanks to further work that she and the volunteers carried out during the off-season in 2023 and 2024, the race became a qualifier for the International Federation of Sleddog Sports World Cup in 2024 and mushers will again compete locally for points to qualify for this year’s World Cup in Wisconsin.
So far, about 40 people have registered in several categories for the local event.
The number is expected to grow quite a bit as race weekend nears.
“It snowballed so quickly, it’s awesome,” Switzer said.
The long-term goal is to further improve the trail so that one day it’s possible for South River to accommodate eight-dog sleds.
Six dogs to a sled is the current maximum that can run the trail in order to keep the canines and mushers safe.
With race days scheduled for Jan. 18 and 19, Stephen Todoroff and Tim Butson have been very busy.
Each day, the pair are out on the trail with different tools, making sure it's ready for the weekend.
For example, Butson pulls a roller — a repurposed culvert — with his snowmobile to pack down the snow.
“The roller takes the air out of the snow and packs it down,” Butson said.
And right behind the roller is a former conveyor belt dragged over the snow to smooth it out.
Being in a forest, brush and twigs easily grow along the eight-kilometre trail and pop through the snow.
The volunteers use a weed whacker to cut the growth so it doesn’t become an obstruction for the dogs.
They will also use a makeshift serrated steel blade to shave the very top layer off the snow to remove any low-lying growth.
Todoroff says the volunteers have been fortunate to get outstanding cooperation from area landowners.
Although the entrance to the trail sits on high school property, the rest traverses over private land owned by several people.
Todoroff says just last summer, Almaguin Community Trail acquired a further 100 acres of land use for the public.
As the popularity of the race continues to grow, the existing trail will need more work in the off-season, even if just maintenance.
Todoroff says if people are interested in helping the trail group with future work, he can be reached at [email protected].
The work the volunteers carry out to prepare the trail for racing has not gone unnoticed by municipal leaders in the surrounding communities.
South River Mayor Jim Coleman said, “The volunteers do a tremendous amount of work to make these races happen. And the economic benefits spread throughout the region.
“They should be very proud of the work they do.”
Sundridge Mayor Justine Leveque said all of the Almaguin Highlands is made up of very small communities and the volunteers serve a “critical and crucial” role.
“Without volunteers, I don’t think we’d have many of the committees that we have,” she said.
Leveque adds as it becomes more difficult to attract volunteers, this makes it even more relevant to “highlight just how important people are to those committees.”
Leveque agrees the two-day event will generate economic activity since the participants have to sleep and eat in the Highlands.
Strong Mayor Tim Bryson says the sled dog races have a cultural significance because they help bring families to enjoyable events.
Bryson says the volunteers behind the weekend of racing do a lot of work — one reason Strong council created a volunteer awards program to recognize this kind of work.
The event has become a major draw for the public in the few years it’s been around.
“We came from humble beginnings and had no idea it would grow like it has,” Todoroff said.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
