From Jan. 17−21, Thompson’s Kelly Martens went on an all-expenses-paid trip to rural Quebec to hit the trails alongside the hosts of one of the most-watched snowmobile TV shows in North America.
The Thompson Trailbreakers president has been watching SnowTrax Television for the past 15 years to stay up-to-date on the latest snowmobile technology.
“They have the most accurate information and their technical segments are very, very good,” he said. “They go a lot more in-depth than the other shows.”
So when Martens stumbled across their contest he decided to submit his own application.
All he had to do to win a free trip to Quebec was record a video critiquing his snowmobile of choice, which comes as second nature to Martens, who’s made it his business to groom and maintain the various trail systems in and around Thompson.
“We were working on trails and I got my friend who was with me to film it,” said Martens, who discussed the pros and cons of his 2016 Ski-Doo Expedition Xtreme. “I didn’t think I did very well at all, but I guess it was good enough.”
Out of over 900 applicants, Martens and four other outdoor enthusiasts from Canada and the United States were selected to fly to a top-secret location near Mont-Joli to participate in what was initially described as a “national advertising campaign” for a snowmobile manufacturer.
However, when Martens and the others arrived, the contest organizers revealed that they would be shooting promotional material for brand-new snowmobiles alongside Mark and AJ Lester, the hosts of SnowTrax Television.
For the next four days, Martens said got a chance to ride these state-of-the-art machines through the French Canadian wilderness while being filmed by the production crew.
Although Martens admitted he isn’t the biggest fan of the repetitive nature of this kind of video production, he still enjoyed hanging out with the SnowTrax hosts, who have considerable insight on the industry.
“The best part of it, for myself, was spending a lot of time with the guys from the television show and the magazine and getting to know them,” he said. “Listening to their stories at night, they know everything about the industry and they’ve been everywhere and they’re involved in everything.”
Martens was also thoroughly impressed with how well these Quebec trails were maintained and plans on incorporating some of their signage techniques here in Thompson.
While Martens isn’t sure if he’ll appear on SnowTrax Television anytime soon, he was told that his riding footage will be released by the snowmobile manufacturer in some capacity on March 4.
