13.  This past weekend we participated in a charity run for Jason Lingard.

12.   For those who are not aware of Jason's situation, earlier this year he was helping a fellow snowmobiler with rear suspension repairs on his snowmobile.

11.    On the last step they had to check the track alignment so Jason lifted up the back of the sled and his buddy gave it a couple of quick shot of gas, then BANG!

10.   Jason felt immeasurable pain in his leg, looked down, there was blood everywhere so his father rushed him to the nearest hospital. The track broke and caught Jason's leg in the turmoil. In the end he had to have his leg amputated.

9.   After hearing about Jason's accident, www.sled-headz.com forum moderators Roger (Venom), Todd (Shindig) and I (action) organized a charity run to raise some much needed money for him and his family. The planned route would take us from Northern Pond Road across the main transmission line to Buster's cabin near Salmonier and return.

Friday evening Roger, Todd and I met up on Salmonier Line to flag the trail from the transmission line to Buster's Cabin with brightly coloured tape to aid participants with navigation. All went well, I lost a drive belt on the way back while running across Old Sea, but quickly installed a spare.

8.   The next morning the crew met on Northern Pond Road, ran registration, and departed with a rather larger group under sunny skies. Quite a few volunteers donned safety vests and acted as trail marshals to ensure the entire ride group made it safely. The group rode up Northern Pond Road, crossed Thomas's Pond, and picked up the transmission line and continued all the way to Salmonier Line. From there they followed our marked trail to Buster's Cabin in Salmon Waters. The first of the ride group was already at Buster's while the last of the group turned off the pole line to travel the marked trail when foul weather set in. It became quite blustery and showed no signs of letting up.

7.   I was with the last group in which Dad was riding his Skidoo Cheyenne, we were just coming onto Old Sea when his sled started running rough. I found a split in the carburetor boot to which I made a temporary repair with electrical tape, but the buttons on the secondary clutch were also worn and sticking the clutch not letting it backshift. This caused the sled to ride like you were starting off in 2nd or 3rd gear which was horrible on hills, especially in this ever deepening snowfall.

6.   I sent the rest of the group onwards with the other two trail marshals as Dad and I both opted out of the rest of the run, we turned and limped Dad's machine to Salmonier Line via Peak Pond. Two other fella's followed us out and waited to be picked up by a friend since they were dangerously low on fuel. We called my brother who picked up my Jeep & trailer on Northern Pond Road and retrieved us on Salmonier Line.

5.   Despite a clear forecast it became quite stormy and everyone's machines were burning more gas than anticipated running in the deepening powder snow.

4.

3.   The first group to arrive at Busters left early and beat the weather, Roger, Todd and the last group had a rough time on the return trip. At times it was only for GPS and looking up at the power lines overhead to determine that they were still on the transmission line path.

2.   All in all it was a very successful day, between registration fees and extra donations we raised $970 for Jason which was presented to him in a ceremony held at Honda One in Mount Pearl. Prizes donated by the ride sponsors were drawn for and won by many lucky individuals who registered for the run.

Big thanks to the following Sponsors:

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Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith