"We preach real hard to bring speed to the track, and keep it off the trails," said Claude Levasseur, Owner Operator of North Bay Snowmobile Speed Runs.
And it is a good job they do, given the top speed of the day was 175.3 miles per hour, at Saturday's Speed Runs.
The winning time belongs to 'Hurricane Dave' Marshall of Prescott Ontario.
"It's a sled that we built for radar running. We call it H1 Hurricane, based on a Yamaha engine. It's a creation that we've done many times now for clients. It's 825 horsepower if we need it, built for speed running," explained Marshall.
"It's a new motor, it's the first run of the season, so I'm trying to get the cobwebs out of it. I had turned it down as low as it would go to start."
Last year Marshall topped out at 192 miles per hour. The rumour mill around the track has him on course to reach 200 miles per hour this year.
"It's easier to do the rumour, than it is the speed," he laughs. "I don't know. I have my sights set on 200. Sometimes it depends on the competition of the day, a lot of it is about the conditions of the day too. I have to be right mentally, the ice has to be fast. I believe I have a sled that will go 200 miles an hour."
Marshall has a lot of time and money invested in the sport.
"I have a lot of money tied up in what I do. The sled to build, it would be about $100,000. I have two of them. I don't have a sponsor. More than the money, it has been a labour of love over the years. I've been doing this for a little over 10 years. We just basically lived in the garage"
Marshall's daughter Dora is spending her 15th birthday weekend doing what she loves best. This is her sixth year racing. In the summer she travels with her family to compete in drag strip races with converted snowmobiles. Last summer she posted a personal best of 144 miles per hour. Unfortunately this weekend, her sled broke on the first run of the day. Crews worked to get her back on track.
"I like the adrenaline rush. I'm the youngest in my class. I'm actually competing in the adult class now. It's pretty cool. There's a lot of competition, and I like that," said Dora.
When it comes to female competitors, Dora says, "There are quite a few of us, but there is always room for more."
She follows her dad's advice when it comes to racing.
"My dad's always told me 'when in doubt, get out.' When I'm not comfortable with the speed that I'm going, let off the throttle."
The Marshall family spends most of its free time together, winter and summer, competing.
"When she was nine-years-old I asked her if she wanted to race and she said 'yes.' I also asked her if she raced, would she give me good report cards, and she said 'yes' again. It has been an agreement that we've both lived up to. I would recommend this sport to any parent who wants to keep his family together. It's awesome. It binds us." said the older Marshall.
Seven-year-old Jace Miedema of Keswick, Ontario has been racing since he was two years old.
Dad Todd says Jace developed a love of racing from watching him.
"I was doing it, and he wanted to do it, so I let him start. It's something we both enjoy doing together," said Miedema.
"Jace is doing good. He's gone as fast as 48 miles per hour."
"I like to go fast," said Jace.
Racers generally have a strong support system in place when travelling.
Anita Rioux, has been following the circuit for the past five years.
"Everybody is like a family here. They all support each other and cheer each other on. It's a lot of fun. My fiancee is involved with it. The faster he gets to go, the better he likes it. He's always out there trying to beat his own record. My eight-year-old daughter wants to start racing next year."
North Bay is the first run of the year.
"There is almost one hundred racers out today, which is good. A hundred racers means they do four runs each, which means they do 400 runs today," said Claude Levasseur.
"Conditions are great. Like anything else, it's the first weekend, a lot of the guys are on new motors, new sleds, new this, new that. So it's always a fun weekend. There are always a lot of issues mechanically."
Racers came from across the province and parts of Quebec.
"It's a circuit. We run four events. There's two in North Bay, one in Sudbury and one in Gravenhurst this year. That one is in two weeks on the Family Day weekend. Then we come back here for Canada versus the World, which will be even bigger than last year. Last year we paid out over $10,000 in purse money, this year we think we're going to almost double the payout."
The cross-border event has a big following.
"Basically it's all Canadian teams against American teams to see who can go the fastest. It's drawing a lot of attention because of the money we've done, and winning a little bit of money does help.I think we already have seven American teams committed to come, from as far away as Minnesota."
This weekend, trophies were handed out to the winner in each of the 42 classes.
"We have competitors from four years of age and up. Actually a seven-year-old just went 60 miles an hour, and he's been racing for three years. They love it."
The event wrapped up Sunday afternoon.
