Ontario Competitive Trail Riding Association

A note from Lopin’ Larose Trail Masters & Organizing Committee:

New Base Camp is now at the other end of the Larose Forest than last year. The address is 4858 Champlain Road, Bourget, Ontario, K0A 1E0.

Please note, our base camp from last year is not available this year; however, the Forestry Office has offered the use of their office grounds as base camp! It is equally lovely, if not more so.  There is limited parking available on Friday night and Sunday night. Please contact Christina Young directly for information on camping on those days. Otherwise, ride camp opens at 10am on Saturday, October 15.

As well, your dedicated and passionate Trail Masters put in some very long hours and have re-selected, re-calculated, and re-marked a significant amount of trail around the new base camp and we now have a course equally as beautiful and fun for you to enjoy!

40k/25mi CTR:
The 40k CTR will consist of two loops (one loop done twice) of 12.5 miles. Water is available at approximately the halfway point. Footing is mainly wide, grassy dirt forest; however, there is approximately 3 miles of contiguous pea-type gravel on the loop (we apologize for this; however, there truly is no way around it). There are mowed grassy sides to all gravel areas. Hoof protection is recommended.

80k/50mi Endurance:
The 50 mile Endurance ride will consist of three loops (16.5 miles, 17 miles, 16.5 miles). Water is available approximately every 5 miles. Footing is mainly wide, grassy dirt forest or packed dirt road. The first and last loop has approximately 3 contiguous miles of pea-type gravel. There are mowed grassy sides to all gravel areas. Hoof protection is recommended.

See you this weekend!

 

Always send flyers and other details related to your rides to webmaster@octra.on.ca so the OCTRA calendar can accurately reflect your planning, events, and registration process. Putting this information only on Facebook is insufficient. People who use Facebook will see it, but others will not. Note: the OCTRA webmaster never uses Facebook as the source for event information.

 

We are pleased to announce that David Morgan has agreed to take on the challenging tasks of OCTRA Webmaster & Data Base Administrator.  David has extensive experience in both areas and has been building websites since 1992 when the internet was still in its infancy.  His experience reflects his strengths in both information presentation (websites) and information management (databases).  And of course, we all know him, from OCTRA Rides as half the team of Great Leads ‘n Reins, along with his wife Kate (and of course their pup Maggie ).

Ride results are of course a priority and David is currently hard at work getting to know the system and is confident he will have them ready for Julie Phair, our Awards Chair, by that all important December 15^th deadline.  If any member has questions, concerns or suggestions they should contact David at webmaster@octra.on.  He welcomes input but hopes everyone will be patient while he gets up to speed.

The Board would like to thank everyone who offered to take on this position and would also like to once again thank Deanna for her years of service and hard work in this and other areas as well as for her ongoing and future contributions to our Association.

After 17 years of continuous service Deanna Ramsay will be stepping down from her assorted volunteer positions with OCTRA effective the end of September.

Deanna has been awarded the Prince Caleb trophy on multiple occasions for her outstanding contributions. She currently serves as co-chair of the veterinary committee, designs and manages all of OCTRA’s databases, enters and compiles horse and ride points, and is the webmaster for our website performing both design and administrative jobs. Deanna’s contributions will be missed by all OCTRA members.

The board of directors sincerely thanks Deanna for her steadfast support. And while we regret her leaving we also understand that there are limits to everyone’s contributions; everyone needs a break.

Additionally, I would like to express my personal thanks to Deanna for all the help she has provided as I’ve attempted to navigate the position known as president.

All the best Deanna.

Doug Price
OCTRA President
(on behalf of the entire Board of Directors)