SnoRiders magazine's SledTown ShowDown trophy has found its home at North Star Performance.
Houston received the trophy after being crowned co-champion with Yorkton, Sask., as Western Canada's best sledding destination.
“I feel pretty good. It's pretty exciting and win,” said Shea Long, president of the Houston Snowmobile Club. “I thought it would be a good chance for a small town for us to get together and show the rest of B.C. and Western Canada what kind of town we are and how tight knit we are.”
Long decided to enter Houston into the competition last year. This is the first time Houston has gone into the competition.
Long is also especially pleased at how the town has rallied around the win. Long added that he counted around 70 snowmobilers at the Jan. 16 barbecue at Dungate Meadows.
“I'm actually surprised that we did win that because it's a right across Canada sort of thing, and it feels good to be able to say that we have a good spot here, and people are going to know about it,” said North Star Performance owner-manager Pete Bodnar.
The long-term benefits to this award remains unknown.
“We haven't seen a bunch of changes,” said Long. “I know there are lot of people that thought we are going to have way more riders and a lot more people coming out.”
Bodnar believes that this might present a good business opportunity.
“It will give the town some life in it so they can get some business out of it, I think it will be better for everybody,” said Bodnar.
Both Bodnar and Long agree that the best part about snowmobiling in Houston lies in its proximity to great sledding areas.
“Probably within half-an-hour, you can be on any one of the places like Telkwa Range or Meadows, and if you want to go to the Onion in Smithers that's probably three-quarters of an hour away.”
Long has not decided if he will put Houston in for the next round of SledTown ShowDown.
“I don't know if we'll put it in again,” he said. “We set out to do what we want to do, and won. Our place is on the map now. Maybe we'll try again next year.”