By Michelle Baker
Wells Gray Riders Association (WGRA) just held their third youth specific event out of six planned events for the 2019′ season. We had 21 youth participate in our Mantracker event with ages ranging from four to 17 years old from our community and surrounding communities such as Barriere and Mclure.
This was a fantastic attendance considering it landed on the same day that a soccer tournament was being held for youth in the community. Generally, we try to book our dates so that we are not conflicting with other youth activities, but were not aware of this tournament at the time dates were chosen earlier in the year.
The WGRA Youth Mantracker is a great way to include and involve all youth in our area as you do not need a horse to participate. Youth set out in teams of two. The two youth mounted on horseback are referred to as the “trackers” who pursue two individuals in the wilderness.
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The pursued are referred to as ” prey” who must elude capture while attempting to reach a finish line within a 30-minute time frame. This is a very thrilling event for both trackers and prey. We had a new location this year for this event as I wanted to change it up and make the course a little more challenging for both trackers and prey and I believe it was a success.
We were able to give out hundreds of dollars worth of prizes due to the generosity of our sponsors. This event was specifically sponsored by Evan Smith Trucking and Interior Whitewater Expeditions who sponsored two River Rafting trips to our top prey. Winners of this event were Top prey five and under Mason Nelson and Colin Choney.
Eight and under The Blackhawks, Gion Volk and William Taylor.
Nine and up The Lulers, Rylan Baker and Jason Bouckaert.
Top trackers went to Laci Hancock and Martha Taylor.
It is very rewarding to see all the families come together and enjoy themselves at our events such as this one.
We have three more events coming up for the 2019 season. July 12-13 we are having an overnight campout with horses hosted at Wells Gray Golf and RV Resort.
Aug. 25 we will have a Scavenger Hunt Trail Ride and Oct. 27 we will have our final event of the season, which is our Halloween pet/owner costume contest event including games such as apple bob, pie eating contest, pumpkin carving and so much more.
The sponsorship goal for this year with the WGRA youth group was to be able to provide all of our events free of charge for families and include activities that all of our youth members were able to participate in. Our members’ ages range between two and 18 years old. We want to provide safe fun activities for the children to do together as a group where they will learn what it is like to contribute and work as a team.
Sponsorship covers entry fees, prizes, and food at our events for the children. We were overwhelmed with the generous support from members of our community and surrounding areas. We were able to raise almost $10,000 to go towards our events and year-end awards. This sponsorship helps to ease the financial burden put on families to get their children involved in extracurricular activities and promotes a healthy lifestyle for the youth of our community.
The focus of the youth group this year is to promote participation. Youth are awarded points for participation when they enter our events and contribute to our fundraising activities. These points turn into tickets that are entered into a year-end draw where we will be giving away two saddles at the end of the year to two lucky winners and many more amazing awards.
The Wells Gray Riders Association Youth Group is very fortunate to have a tremendous amount of support from generous, caring, amazing sponsors willing to invest in the children of our future. You can check out all of our events and sponsors at wellsgrayriders.com and learn more about our becoming involved in our youth group.
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