THUNDER BAY – Sleeping Giant Loppet coordinator Peter Gallagher was one of a handful of people that was ecstatic to see Thunder Bay covered in 15 centimetres of snow on Sunday.
“I’ll shovel as much snow as possible that falls on my driveway as long we got enough snow for the Loppet,” Gallagher said.
The snowfall brought a much-needed sigh of relief to the Loppet’s committee, who were looking at discussing their options during a meeting this weekend about the March 1 event at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park.
A lack of snow resulted in the 2024 event being cancelled in early February.
“It depends on the time of the year and the type of snow that it is,” Gallagher said. “I’d hate to put an exact number on it but about 30 centimetres of snow would probably assure us of a good trail system, which is what we’ve got now with what fell before Christmas.
“The trails at Sleeping Giant are a little rougher naturally than the ones at Kamview (Nordic Centre), as they get prepared during the summertime and so on, so we need more snow at Sleeping Giant.
“With that we have right now, I’m pretty confident that we’ll be able to hold the event.”
The lack of snow at both Sleeping Giant and Kamview, which was where the event was moved to in 2007, resulted in the Loppet’s second-ever cancellation last winter.
The meet also didn’t happen in 2021 due to restrictions on gathering in provincial parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gallagher hopes that Sunday’s snow will lead to a boost in registration, which has been quite low.
“I’m not surprised by that because of last year’s situation and the fact that we had very little snow up until a couple of days ago,” Gallagher said.
“I just hope that people will support the event. We’ve had a tough few years with a couple of cancellations so we would like to see people come out and enjoy themselves.
“It’s always a fun day and we’d like to get everyone back into the spirit of enjoying the Loppet.”
Registration for the Loppet and further information on the meet can be found on the event’s website.