You don’t often see racers going up a ski hill but that was exactly the goal Saturday at Ski Martock in Windsor Forks, N.S., during the third annual Martock Hill Drags. “I think we had 150 or 160 sleds the first year and then we sort of tweaked the classes and did some math on how many slots we could fit in the timeline that Martock is letting us do this,” says organizer, Nick Rafuse. “I think there’s 180 today.” The one-day race event is a fundraiser for two local snowmobile clubs, the Annapolis Valley Ridge Runners and the Hants SnoDusters. “As much as we like racing, we’re here for that reason. We have 800 km of trails between the two clubs. Fuel is expensive, maintenance and repairs are expensive, trail work is expensive and this is a big driver of our bank account,” Rafuse says. Racers are registered in 20 different classes of snowmobiles, from trail sleds to highly modified race machines that can cover the 150-metre track in just a few seconds as they reach speeds of nearly 200km/h. Bridgewater resident Kevin Emino attended the race in his custom built sled. “I love snowmobiling and the racing, I got drawn into it, but I like building race sleds too. There’s some pretty stiff competition here today. There’s a lot of really good, high dollar, high class sleds.” Teams attended the event from all across Atlantic Canada. “It’s a 5-and-a-half-hour drive for us. It’s kind of a social gathering, we know all the guys here, we’ve been racing for a while,” says Tony McCoy from Fredericton. “It’s getting to be a big thing, the hill racing. It’s the only place there’s snow this time of year, so we thought we’d get down and enjoy it.” Over $10,000 in total prize money was up for grabs for the fastest drivers up the hill. One hundred and sixty-seven runs will be made before the champions are crowned. “It’s an awesome day. Lots of sponsors, it’s just an amazing day in general,” says driver, Holly King. “It’s the adrenaline rush, I love the adrenaline rush of racing. It’s just fun.” There is more racing to come. Another event is planned for April 25 at Cape Smokey in Cape Breton. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
