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Kelowna  

Nordic club needs $200,000 boost

Nordic club needs a boost

With hundreds of people reliant on their groomed trails on any given day, members of the Kelowna Nordic Club are continually working to ensure smooth skiing.

RIght now, however, efforts are turning toward a bigger-than-usual issue with their equipment, says Marshall Moleschi, president of the Kelowna Nordic Ski and Snowshoe Club.

The club's two groomers are on their last legs. One of the PistenBullys used for snow grooming at Kelowna was purchased in 1999 and has more than 13,000 hours of use. The newest is 17 years old, Moleschi said.

They're continually breaking down and needing costly repairs. Those stop-gap fixes, however, will only take them so far. That means a big buy is in their future.

“We just cannot function without a grooming machine working, so we are looking to buy one,” Moleschi said.

That’s created an urgent need to raise funds to replace one of the grooming machines in the next one or two years.

“We applied for a [provincial] grant and we think we have a good chance,” Moleschi said, noting that a recent bid for a grant didn't go through.

They're hoping for $250,000 from the province that they will match much of that with fundraising in the community.

“Even then, we will have to go into our savings to pay for the rest,” he said.

The Nordic Centre has 85 kilometres of snowshoe trails, and volunteers make sure they’re useable for the 700 plus members who ski regularly.

“It’s a strong community and a community resource,” he said.

“If anybody can give us some support, any money can help, go to kelownanordic.com and on our website you can see a donation to this and it’s essential because we cannot offer this if we can't keep the groomer going.”

*Correction: an earlier version referred to Moleschi as Martin, not Marshall.



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