One of last year's riders during the second annual vintage sled rally in Prince Albert. (submitted photo/Vanessa Brahniuk)

By Nick Nielsen

Vintage races

Vintage sled rally hoping for more growth in third year

Jan 26, 2025 | 8:00 AM

Sledding over the open fields or through the trails in the trees is about as Saskatchewan as it gets when it comes to winter activities, and there’s a lot of folks who use vintage snowmobiles to enjoy that past time. The Prince Albert Snow Pirates snowmobile club is getting set for their third annual vintage sled rally on February 22, and they’re hoping to see the event continue to grow.

Guy St. Hilaire is the Vice President of the Snow Pirates and he said that they are more than happy to be supporting the Rose Garden Hospice with some of the proceeds this year. The Rose Garden Hospice was the first cause the sled rally supported while last year they donated to a first responders organization, and St. Hilaire believes supporting great causes like this is something that will stick with the rally for years to come.

“The very first year that we had the race, they were building their building and they were looking for support and all that while building that Rose Garden Hospice. So we had it at the airport, and we donated $10,000 to the Rose Garden, and Canadian Tire, Malcolm Jenkins, matched us, so we gave them $20,000, and it goes to a good cause. Like I’m 68 years old, so I might be using that place one of these days, and then last year we went to first responders. Next year it might be somebody else, but we thought we’d go with the Rose Garden again because there’s gonna be a lot of people out there.”

The event has a number of different classes for different-sized engines and modded classes for sleds made in 1981 or older, as well as some classes for little kids sleds as well. St. Hilaire races in the sled races himself as well and said that people won’t be seeing a bunch of broken and torn up sleds. A lot of people take a lot of pride in the old machines they keep running.

“We put a lot of money into these sleds, and these sleds aren’t just a piece of junk with ripped seats and stuff like that. They’re done up nice, and we have mod classes also where these guys fixed them up and they’ll get up to 90 miles an hour in 660 feet. The skis are coming off the ground and everything else, and there’s all these old sleds. There’s a Johnson Golden Ghost, and there’s Ski Rule, there’s Masseys, there’s Arctic Cats, Yamahas, there’s all kinds. It’s almost like a trade show that you see with all these sleds done up and I’m thinking that this year there’s going to be even more.”

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Last year’s event saw a huge uptick in the amount of riders that came out. While other places around the province struggled to move enough snow for a drag race track last year, the Prince Albert area had more than enough.

“We were the only ones that had a race in Saskatchewan because of no snow, right? We were the only ones that had enough snow and stuff like that, so we 150 some sleds that showed up.”

For those who maybe have an old sled collecting dust in the back of their farm yard who are thinking about joining the races, St. Hilaire encourages you to get it fixed up and bring it out. There are a ton of races to get to the final.

“We have probably 160 races back-to-back and non-stop racing on 660 feet. We have races for any age people, old guys too, and the machines are 1981 and under. If you have a machine that you took out of the bush, you want to fix it up, you want to race, come on out. You never know, you might win a trophy or a little bit of bragging rights, and it goes right back to 1968 with some of the sleds out there. They’re old. It’s a very good show and it’s cheap entertainment.”

Registration is at Smitty’s at the South Hill Mall in Prince Albert the day before the races, February 21, from 7pm-9pm. For the public attending, admission is $10 for and kids five years old or younger get in for free.

For directions to the races, click here.