Cain’s Quest 2016, takes deep pockets and deep reserves of endurance. The 3.500-kilometre odyssey began in Labrador City Friday night and will take its heatry participants the length and breadth of Labrador.
While there is a prize of $100,000 (Cdn), $50,000 going to the winner, the money is not the main motivation. “It just gets in your blood. Some of the racers have actually been here since the first race in 2006, and said they wouldn’t do it again. And every year, they come back again,” Glenn Emberley told CBC Newfoundland and Labrador.
They’ve come from far and wide, with some of the best equipment available.
Sami Paivike and teammate Arto Juahiainen spent about $146,000 (Cdn) to ship their Lynx snowmobiles from Finland for the competition. Lynx snowmobiles are made in Finland by Bombardier Recreational Products. They make Skidoos as well.
Decked out in their Lynx gear the pair are the fortunate recipients of lucrative corporate sponsorship. Team Nunavik is participating due to the community sponsorship. “We had some bingos, a lot of raffling. We have a big music festival in the summer, so we flipped a lot of burgers and hot dogs and stuff like that, anything we could do.” Junior May explained.
Sebastian Benuen, who has spent his life in Labrador, and a lot of it on a snowmobile, says the race gives him a renewed respect for the land. “I like to see all those communities and everything, see all the Big Land. That’s the reason why I keep coming back.” he told CBC. He started out in the race three times before, but has not finished, yet.
Labrador City’s Gary Travers has also competed three times before and he knows exactly why he’s doing it; “The bragging rights is what I’m looking for.”
The event has grown from the 1200 kilometres it took to go from Labrador City to Churchill Falls and back in 2006. In this event, Churchill Falls is the first of 19 checkpoints.
As of Sunday evening, five of the 37 teams had been eliminated.
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