Blog
Weekend at Mill Hill MX Ride Park opens NSORRA 2022 Season
NSORRA opened its season with a Weekend at Mill Hill MX/Ride Park, sponsored by Valley Yamaha-Suzuki on June 25 - 26. Mill Hill is a beautiful and fun-to-ride park that includes an MX track and great trails as well as a wonderful area for camping and sponsor booths.
Day 1 – Women In Moto
Day 1 started with gray skies but that didn’t stop almost 40 women from attending the Women In Moto event! Dirt bike clinics, trail rides, trials bike intro and MX clinics filled a day of fun.
Dirt Bike Clinics
NSORRA Training co-Directors Josh Kelly and Mike Ritter were on hand to teach the basics. Participants received 90 minutes of group instruction time with a suitable loaner bike from the NSORRA fleet as well as all safety gear if needed. They ran 16 women through the intro clinic during the day.
MX with Alex Josey
MX clinics are always popular during the Women In Moto days. Women who may have never been on an MX track get the opportunity to give it a try without risking being run over by more experienced riders.
Retired national level MX rider and NSORRA Dirt Bike School coach Alex Josey offered both beginner and intermediate MX courses. While the beginner group learned the basic skills, the intermediate group learned starts and some of the higher level skills with tips from Alex on how to improve. There is no better way to get a taste of the discipline and start to develop skills on the track than by being supported by strong female mentors.
Trials lessons hosted by Maritime Trials Riders
Thanks to Kevin Patterson and his team for teaching several women the basic skills they need to participate in trials competitions. Balancing skills, riding over logs and barrels came in handy as a warm up to trying out some competition areas in the field and woods.
The Trails are Your Playground
It wouldn’t be an NSORRA event without some time in the woods. Our wonderful trail leaders and sweepers made it a fantastic experience for all participants.
Day 2 – NSORRA Drive to Ride Membership Drive
The day opened with practice for the afternoon Trials competition and students arriving to participate in the NSORRA Dirt Bike School.
At 10:00 am, the gates opened for the day to our general membership for a free members’ day at the park. By closing at 3:00 pm, almost 150 NSORRA members went through the gates. They enjoyed time on the Trails and MX track, participated in Trials competitions and took time to relax with friends they hadn’t seen in a while.
Fundraising barbecues hosted by The Portal
The Portal - a registered non-profit charitable organization that is a resource centre for Annapolis Valley youth age 16-24 who are at risk with a special focus on those currently experiencing homelessness – hosted a fundraising barbecue each day to assist them in their programming.
Prizes galore!
NSORRA events and sponsor prizes go hand in hand. Members of all ages took home prizes from NSORRA Sponsors Beta Canada, Triple S Cycle Works, Shereef Elkoshairi from The Reef Group and 509 Offroad.
Thanks!
As can be expected, we have a long list:
- Blaine Prest for the use of his wonderful facility
- Kirk Long at Valley Yamaha-Suzuki for sponsoring the weekend
- Bill Brown who presented the Hare Scramble Title Sponsorship cheque from Canadian Kawasaki Motors
- Stephen Howland from Beta Canada, Stuart Buck from Triple S Cycle Works and Shereef Elkoshairi from The Reef Group
- Kevin Patterson from Maritime Trials Riders
- The Portal for running lunchtime barbecues
- Canadian Ski Patrol - Nova Scotia Zone volunteers
- Josh Kelly and Mike Ritter for running the intro dirt bike clinics
- Alex Josey for the MX clinics
Finally, NSORRA would not be able to hold events such as these without our wonderful NSORRA volunteers who step up and take on any task needed to be completed.
Thank you all!
Claudine Laforce is NSORRA’s General Manager. She appreciates all the volunteers – from board members to sponsors to our general members – who step forward to assist as needed. I couldn’t do it without you!
