The mud that greets Albertans during the spring melt each year can truly be a pain in terms of clean-up, with lumps of dirt sticking to shoes and making a mess of floors. However, this year’s Ashmont Quad Rally held on Saturday presented a chance for ATV, side-by-side, dirt bike and mud enthusiasts to get out and enjoy all the fun the mud has to offer.
This year’s 32-mile course brought riders north of Ashmont, past Floating Stone Lake and then continued north using back roads and the local trail systems to venture through sloughs and standing water from the spring melt.
After the halfway point, the trail circled around and headed back south, using trails around the smaller lakes that lie north of Ashmont, going past the Ashmont Waste management facility before returning to the Agriplex starting point.
The rally included 664 riders in total this year, with everyone managing to finish the course without incident - and getting grimy in the process.
Once again, the event was dubbed a sell-out.
Ashmont Agricultural Society’s Adam Desmond was one of many volunteers and organizers that made sure the event ran smoothly.
“We had a great rally this year, despite the unwelcoming weather in the morning and throughout the day, the rally was a complete success. We had no injuries and everyone made it off the course accounted for.”
This year, the rally featured St. Paul RCMP members riding the course among riders, as well as another officer in a cruiser helping slow down oncoming traffic at an important point where the rally had to cross the road.
Volunteers and quads brought up the back of the rally to keep people moving and helped any riders having mechanical issues with their machines.
“I would like to thank the St. Paul RCMP members (and) Ashmont Fire Department that were a part of the rally or on standby to help in any way possible,” said Desmond in regard to the important role that the members played.
As always, Norm and Carol Bentley were at the Agriplex, ready to greet many of the riders with a homemade meal. Ashmont Ag Society member Danny Weinmeier was also very happy with the turnout, as well as the support that the event received this year.
“We have to thank all of our landowners who allowed the trail to cross their land, as well as the trail committee for working so hard to get the trails marked and prepared for the rally. We had great business support this year and without our volunteers and all of these other great people, this event would not have been the same.”
Pushing through the cold weather and rather dreary conditions, riders are already eagerly looking forward to next year’s event.
