Blog
2020 President’s Year in Review
2020 was my first year as President. This is a fun community to be involved with. Despite the complex challenges of leadership, I am filled with satisfaction when I look around and see so many smiles; members young and old supporting one another. They know one another by name, cheer one another on, help with technical issues, car pool, volunteer, and provide insight and knowledge to me and members on our Board without prejudice. Lasting friendships for our youth, families and individuals from all parts of our province are forming and it feels good to watch it grow. Following is a summary of what we achieved in 2020.
First Quarter: January to March
It was important that we build new efficiencies in keeping up with our records and payment responsibilities to our stakeholders. Maintaining our relationship with Scotiabank, NSORRA switched to a fully digital banking platform. Email money transfers have been working much better, allowing us to make payments in a timely manner.
We reorganized our Board structure to allow increased autonomy for Committees. A more nimble Executive core increased the efficiency of decision-making and at the same time energized more volunteer involvement in spinoff committees (Race, Training, Trails, Women in Moto, website, social media, etc.). Each Committee was appointed a co-chair. This serves a dual purpose: it provides necessary support and protects NSORRA’s succession strategy. We were pleased to welcome two women to our Board who contributed in a very meaningful way.
NSORRA signed Claudine Laforce for another one-year term contract. Her service has been invaluable to the association!
NSORRA, with its OHV partners - ATVANS and SANS - share involvement in the NS Joint Trails Strategy Group and participate in the NS OHV Presidents Council. Ongoing topics of discussion: inclusion in the Wagner Lands agreements, coordinated discussions on COVID response plans within the OHV community, licensing issues.
Early discussions with Megan Griffiths about offering training clinics in Nova Scotia.
Introduction of handlebar tags on all new and used motorcycles on dealership floors across the province. This is an important marketing tool for the NSORRA brand and our dirt bike school which provides the only dirt bike certification course in Nova Scotia to be OHV compliant.
Participated in the 2020 Motorcycle and Motorsport Atlantic Show, partnering with Honda Canada for demos for ages 6-12, promoting training, race, recreational riding, membership and our trials riding community. Kicked off our 2020 sponsorship campaign working with our network of dealers and stakeholders across the province.
Introduced a gender equality and antidiscrimination policy for the association.
Discussions with Shore Cycle on developing a training ground for dirt bike school and other related events on the South Shore.
Second Quarter: April to June
COVID-19 was upon us with the province in lockdown. The future of our 2020 public riding season was in question. Claudine and Josh took an active lead in maintaining relationships within the province to adapt to all public health requirements. Like many businesses, we learned to host and participate in meetings digitally and by teleconference. NSORRA was one of the first recreational organizations in the province to establish a COVID-19 plan.
While the province was in lockdown, NSORRA President, Josh Kelly, started an NSORRA backyard skills challenge on Facebook. Included were static balancing, log bumps, and tight dimension turning exercises. This was well-received by our membership and reached into our neighbouring offroad communities in NB and PEI. Men, women and children posted videos of their best efforts. It was a fun release in a very uncertain time.
Hiltz Road, Miller Meadow and Craigmore Creek ride parks were cleared, serviced and ready for ridership on schedule when the Province allowed for trail workers to access the forests with social distancing protocols. Big thanks to our landowners and many volunteers (Josh Kelly, Dave Tobin, Mike Ritter, Adam Greeley, Patrick Foote, Grant MacLeod, among others).
We developed and erected signage for all of our managed trail system which was well-appreciated by our members and landowners. Thank you to sign maker, Peter Lawrence for his continued support of NSORRA. When NSORRA ride parks opened we were happy to report excellent compliance and adaptation to the new rules. We had a plan and maintained a consistent message which helped us manage people’s expectations of how to participate in our programs and events. This gave us the confidence to delay our race season rather than cancel it. It’s worth noting that MX cancelled all of their 2020 events.
Training, by the nature of its class size and structure, was able to open almost on schedule in June. The 2020 season kicked off in Cheticamp, Cape Breton with an interesting opportunity to work with Parks Canada, providing class-specific training for their new two-wheeled Rokon utility vehicles. Six trail maintenance workers were cross-trained on the Rokon service vehicle and NSORRA’s dirt bikes.
Immediately following, concurrent courses were held at Miller Meadow and Craigmore Creek. In an effort to support our neighbouring offroad community (NBDRA), NSORRA coach Colin Kaiser, a resident of Fredericton, NB, offered to train in New Brunswick while our provinces were separated as a result of public health measures.
Also while our province was on lockdown in the first wave of COVID-19, Claudine Laforce and Meghan Cairns initiated the start-up of a social media Facebook group dubbed the NS Dirt Divas. Its intent was to harness some of the positive energy created by our FB backyard challenge. Getting more women interested in the sport was made possible by bringing pro rider and trainer, Meg Griffiths to NS to instruct riding clinics. Our women’s group has swelled to well over 100 ladies and has been a real success story for 2020!
Third Quarter: July to September
In July, an NSORRA sponsor, Stephen Howland of Beta Canada, and a few key volunteers initiated and participated in a promotional tour and fun ride challenge and an exposé of NSORRA ride parks. NSORRA director Mike Ritter championed a Facebook Live feed that had a wide following and invigorated our ridership to make the best use of our managed trail. The tour included NSORRA ride parks Hiltz Road, Mill Hill, South Alton and Miller Meadow, then to Cobequid Mountain Sports, our newly signed Thistle Dew Farm in Albert Bridge, Cape Breton and finished at Craigmore Creek Ride Park.
With the support of our landowners - Kyle Ledwidge at Miller Meadow and the exceptional effort of the Harnish family at Thistle Dew Farm - we were successfully able to provide safe quarantine to bring nationally recognized female pro rider and coach Megan Griffiths to Nova Scotia to run three exciting (SOLD OUT) ride clinics. This could not have happened without the support of the local community including Juanita Currie at Enterprise Truck Rentals, Toys for Big Boys (dirt bike), and the Harnish and Kelly families for loaning their RVs.
COVID restrictions continued to pose challenges to hosting races in July. But our race season was able to open successfully on August 15 in Craigmore. In preparation for the event, access to trail grants allowed NSORRA the opportunity to construct a permanent outhouse rest facility and RV dump onsite. This was made possible by generous volunteer support and in-kind involvement by the landowner, Leonard Van Zutphen. Special thanks to Josh Kelly and Allan Young for taking the lead in planning, gathering materials and construction. Thanks to members Trevor Pushie (Scotsville), Ray Poirier (Louisdale), Nigel Brooks (East Mountain), Denis Pelichero (Bedford) and Adam Greeley (Middle Sackville).
Following the Craigmore event, which saw record volunteer participation amidst the relaxation of some public health restrictions, we experienced increased interest in volunteer engagement for such things as developing an endurocross component to our rider membership at Miller Meadow and Thistle Dew Farm. Big thanks to Larry and Chantal McDowell, Kyle Ledwidge, Nick MacDonald, Herb and Sharon Harnish, Justin Lewis.
Recreational riding opportunities within NSORRA’s Dirt Diva group continued to grow with Jill Cross, Marijke Nel, Robin Harris and Bonnie Wilczynski leading the way. Thanks also to Dave Estabrooks for taking the lead in providing dedicated ride time for kids every Monday during Kids’ Night at Miller Meadow.
NSORRA Wednesday Night recreational rides at Miller Meadow had record numbers throughout the season. Thanks to Grant MacLeod and Grant Lingley for your leadership in this effort.
All of these events lead to record numbers in participation and NSORRA membership growth.
September and October were a blur of activity with three hare scrambles, the Drive to Ride, Women in Moto and multiple weekly training sessions provided by NSORRA’s dirt bike coaches.
Fourth Quarter: October to December
We held our annual hare scramble awards event in October. We were fortunate to have the Waverley Legion host the event in their hall which was big enough to hold all class winners and their families while still maintaining social distancing. Hare scramble series awards were presented by series sponsor Bill Brown, the Atlantic Canada rep for Canadian Kawasaki Motors and Jen Estabrooks from Soles In Motion who sponsored the awards event.
We are determined to be fully caught up with, and maintain, on-time fiscal reporting moving into 2021. This has been a significant challenge in the past for NSORRA due to many factors. With our Treasurer, Melissa Ruginski’s experience and determined contribution, we are closing in on our targets. Note: Without a doubt, bookkeeping will have to be farmed out to a paid agency and will be addressed before year end. A new firm has been identified and we are close to hiring them.
In November, we attended a Zoom update meeting with NS Department of Community, Culture and Heritage’s Ben Buckwold and Robin Norrie. They were thoroughly impressed that NSORRA had a successful season. Most provincial recreational organizations did not enjoy this success.
We are hoping to work with local suppliers Callus and Scott Lockhart (509 and Seven) to order swag that promotes our brand. Our hope is to recognize our volunteers and promote involvement while adding market visibility and awareness.
Wrap-up
NSORRA is looking forward with confidence to a bright future and is committed to working with Nova Scotia businesses, communities and government partners to keep with a theme that has become a signature of 2020: We are Nova Scotia Strong!
Kind regards,
Josh Kelly
President, NSORRA
Links to the 2019 and 2020 Annual Reports
Due to cost and environmental concerns, we will not be making these annual reports available in print. Please review them on these PDF file before the AGM events and contact Claudine at gmnsorra@nsorra.ca if you have any questions or concerns.
2019 Annual Report
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aAah2Wv7fZVcMVk1Xu1IrnUtsPiNAy-S/view?usp=sharing
2020 Annual Report
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aNg2sS8feho8GGZraxqwY0-bbKyWC7Fe/view?usp=sharing
