Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, August 7, 2025

President Olaf chaired the meeting.

Guests Chris Dolomount, sister of Jackie and Jennifer Lewis guest of prospective Rotarian Kim Legge were introduced and welcomed

The August Rotary Social will be held in the evening of August 14 at the Jiwen Garden Restaurant at 6pm. There will be no Rotary lunch meeting on August 14.

 The Toonie Quest West 50-50 draw had a winner this week. There had been several roll-over weeks, so congratulations go to the winner whose winnings were around $2000. Remember to enter the weekly draw with your weekly toonie or pay in advance $10, $20 or more so you are entered into the weekly $2 draw for several weeks.

 Adam introduced the guest presenter Ian Colbourne, executive director with West Coast Cycling Association, WCCA who was accompanied by the Association’s project coordinator, Jordan Dawe-Ryan.

Ian began his presentation by giving a broad overview of West Coast Cycling Association. The mission and vision of the association is to build and maintain sustainable trails, and to develop the mountain bike community in Western Newfoundland by encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

 The association was established in 2010 by volunteers and has grown greatly since then. The organisation has an elected board with Ian and Jordan as the full-time employees.  There are many volunteers that help with the development of the trails as well as seasonal employees. There are over 200 members with 60 plus kilometers of trails to be maintained and developed.

 Ian went on to talk about the Long Range Enduro Race and how its popularity has grown. This year there will be a single day of long-range riding throughout the Humber Valley to test the cyclist’s mettle. This is a community event with an awards ceremony ending with an after-party. For this race there are a variety of categories across both sport and expert pacing to suit different cyclists.

 Ian continued by looking at the 2025 updates which include increasing collaboration with other interest groups and expanding the network of trails particularly in the Humber Valley.  

 Next Ian showed a general map of the local trails particularly those in Prince Edward Park and those in Gros Morne Park near Norris Point and Rocky Harbour.  He spent some time talking about the Man in the Mountain trail and its connecting points.

 The talk ended by Ian speaking of the future vision of the association which included strengthening of the WCCA, the training of leaders, expanding of rides and the expansion of events and marketing media. He finished by looking at  the wide variety of shareholders of WCCA before answering several questions.

 Ian was thanked for the informative and interesting talk before the meeting was adjourned.