The Town of Stettler was abuzz last weekend with a lot of sports and out-of-town teams, but one of the most fascinating sporting events was being held for the first time in town in a while as Stettler MX Track was opened up for motocross riders on Saturday, June 4 after five years in hiatus.
Originally built over 15 years ago, the track was heavily utilized for years with over 100 active members.
“As with all non-profit groups, the biggest challenge is finding volunteers to help share the load of organizing and maintaining the facility,” said Tom Fisher, president of the Stettler Dirt Riders’ Association. “However, as people’s lives move on and priorities change, the torch needs to be passed on to someone new to take over in keeping the facility operating.”
Fisher added that the reality is, there is not always someone willing to take the torch and typically the facility has dwindled.
“For that reason, the track has been closed for the past five seasons due to lack of volunteers,” said Fisher. “Every year it is harder and harder to find places to ride your off-road dirt bikes and ATVs.”
Fisher said since his family enjoys dirt riding but don’t want to have to travel out of the area to ride, they had a discussion with other like-minded families and friends and the logical decision was to look into re-opening the Stettler MX Track.
“We got the ball rolling last summer and through a lot of hard work, we were able to re-open this past Saturday,” continued Fisher. “We had a good turn out for the opening with support from local riders as well as a few out of town ones, too.”
Fisher said that the feedback from all the riders were very positive and added, “There is a lot of interest in motocross and our main focus is to cater to families.”
“We want families to feel comfortable coming to the track with young children and spending the day riding with them,” said Fisher. “Our goal is to make some changes to the track so it is challenging enough for the seasoned rider, but forgiving and not intimidating for the beginner.”
The Stettler Dirt Riders’ Association is looking to recruit members, volunteers with time or equipment and seeking donations or sponsorships to help cover the costs of operating the track.