Two riders in Innisfail are saddling up this summer and geocaching in the West Country.
Lynn Scott and A.R. Howes are two of 23 people who have signed up so far for the inaugural Amazing Backcountry Race — a fundraising event that will donate all money raised this year to STARS.
Geocaching, akin to treasure hunting, makes use of GPS devices to track down coordinates of hidden caches. The backcountry race that will spread from Kananaskis to Willmore, requires people use horses to cover the distance and move through the terrain.
“Our goal of course, is to raise as much money as we can for STARS,” said Brena Murdock in an e-mail. Murdock is coordinating the event with Scott Phillips. She said they also want to “promote the amazing riding we have in Alberta and give people a fun and exciting excuse to get out with their horses.
So far $5,000 has been raised from donations made through their website — www.abcrace.com.
“This is a chance for me to go and ride the trail and know the condition and know that I'm on a real trail,” said Lynn Scott of Innisfail.
Scott runs Northernhorse, a horse-marketing website with her husband, and is helping with the race's website.
She said she's been mountain riding a few times but has always been hesitant because she doesn't know the trails well or the condition that they're in.
But the amazing race website will have the GPS coordinates for the trail and explains the high and low points on the trail, she said.
Sixteen caches are going to be distributed in the West Country. Starting June 25 the coordinates of the containers will be posted online and anyone who is registered can start riding the trails and hunting for the treasures. Each cache box contains a logbook, instructions of what to do at that site, items to trade as well as a “did you know sheet” which gives participants interesting information about the area they are in.
The location of caches will be selected based on views or historical or geological significance.
All of the participants' profiles are on the website and people can choose to donate to specific groups online. The website will allow racers to post pictures of their rides, make comments to other riders and invite people to ride with them.
Prizes will be awarded for the most money raised, most caches found, and the most creative pictures. There are also prizes for the first rider who finds each cache.
For more information email [email protected].
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