A Message from the Desk of the President 
The Whitecourt Trailblazers held their Annual General Meeting on the 21st of September and given the unseasonably warm temperatures and folks not thinking sledding just yet, we had a great turn out. The AGM is the meeting at which the Club’s Executives are voted on and I was happy to return as President given that most of our previous years team returned as well. The WTB are in the enviable position of having such a great Executive lead the club. We said goodbye to a couple of people that had served on our board for a number of years, Robin Sebo and Jordan Forseille who have stepped away from the club to spend more time with their young families and our club thanks these fellows for their dedication and hard work over the years.
Denis Blain-VP, Shirley Picard-Treasurer, Andy Sierens-Facilities, Cindy Brooks-Memberships, Ray Hiltz- Industry Liaison, Justin Mandel-Safety, Dave MacLeod-Trail Boss, Sean Schulte-Trail Boss, Dave Bilau-Trail Boss are all returning to the Executive for the 2025/2026 season.
Also returning is a key person in our club; our Executive Assistant Candyce Jones. Candyce who does a lot of the work behind the scenes, keeps our group focused and does so much of the heavy lifting on club events. It’s great to have her back to provide support for our group.
Some additions and changes within the club leadership this season; Dave Bilau moves from Trail Boss to Grooming Co-Ordinator. Dave has already been working on the cats for a couple months this summer and has them tuned up and ready for the season.
Given his background in heavy duty and hydraulics the club is fortunate to have Dave on our team.
We elected a new Trail Boss; Jeff Sampson who joins our group this year. While new to the Executive, Jeff is not new to trail cleaning and has spend countless hours out on the trails and always has his power saw and can-do attitude with him. Warm welcome to Jeff who is a great addition.
The third new member of our team is Keith Best, who was elected as a Director at Large. Keith, better known as Festus, has been an active member and rider in the club for many years and has been a willing participant in a variety of club activities from trail cleaning to wood splitting. We welcome Festus to our board and look forward to his input over the coming years.
The WTB have an excellent Executive board again for this season and a key contributor to that is our efforts that go into the recruitment board members and the various skill sets that these folks bring to the table. This effort has been lead by our VP Denis B who has these upfront efforts and will continue to make a difference to our club and our community.
One of the major fundraisers for our club has been to volunteer at AGLC Casino fundraisers. This program is available to non-profit groups and takes a large contingent of people to fill the various roles and shifts that are required. Our date for the casino was in June this year and to get all the seats filled we needed to reach out to the Whitecourt Community for some help and as always, the folks, many who are not active sledders, stepped up.
Special thanks from the WTB for those folks that donated their time for this event
and our Executive folks that worked the phones to make this happen.
Lots of things happening this season on the sledding front, work and upgrades at several of the cabins and lookouts, new facility under construction at Eagle River Staging Recreation Area and the never-ending task of trail clearing, mulching and grooming. The club is planning for a Golden Triangle Ride in conjunction with our Annual Rally this season, so stay tuned for details around that event. While it is a bit of a stretch to get excited about sledding in this unseasonably warm fall, I look forward to seeing my seasonal friends out at the various meeting and functions or somewhere along the trails this season.
If there are folks out there that want to participate in club activities and donate some of their time, please reach out to Candyce on any of our social platforms.