2 | Snowmobile VERMONT VAST VAST NEWS NEWS Late Winter 2018 DAVE PAGE MEMORIAL BOXCAR SLED By Rich Butler Family, friends and the Mad River Ridge Runners Snowmobile Club of Waitsfield sponsored a memorial snowmobile ride for Reggie Orr on Feb. 10. Reggie suddenly passed away last September. He was actively involved with the Mad River Ridge Runners throughout his adult life and passed the love of the sport on to many of the people he met. Family members requested a memorial ride on Reggie’s behalf when snow conditions were right. Feb. 10 brought much snow, along with 25 snowmobilers of all ages. The 65- mile ride took riders throughout the Mad River Valley, culminating with a hot dog roast at Beaver Meadows in Camel’s Hump State Park. The ride was safe and enjoyable for all and will hopefully become an annual event for the Mad River Ridge Runners as “Reggie’s Ride!” MAD RIVER RIDGE RUNNERS’ REGGIE’S RIDE EARLY BIRD TMAS Early Bird TMAs are in! We sold 14,973 this year. That is about 220 more than we did last season. At this time, more that half of VAST clubs still have Regular Season TMAs to send in for reconciliation. The sooner we can get those in, the sooner we will be able to gauge where we will end the season. Some clubs send their TMAs in every few weeks. This makes it easier for them because they do it in small batches and it makes it easier for us, so we are not overwhelmed with them all at once. Why do we need to know as soon as we can? Because VAST builds our budgets based on TMAs sold and we need to begin the planning process this spring for next year. We also can not add new members to the mailing list for Snowmobile Vermont magazine until TMAs are sent in. On Jan. 28, Eric Higgins and his 10-year-old son, Tyler, were out riding in Brighton and came upon the scene where Dave Page had his snowmobiling accident the night before. It was there that they met VAST Executive Director Cindy Locke and Bobby Tower who were working on pulling out Dave’s sled. They chatted for a while as Bobby told Eric how he became very close to Dave during the past year when Dave took him under his wing to mentor him in grooming and trail maintenance. Bobby’s grief over losing his friend and mentor made an impact on Eric. Eric was so moved by Bobby’s dedication to the club and his friendship with Dave, that he and his son went home that evening to read the “VAST Potential” article in the magazine that was about Bobby and how Dave had mentored him. Every year, Eric and Tyler build a boxcar sled to race in the Brighton Winter Carnival. This year, they were inspired to create a wonderful tribute to Dave Page by building a cardboard and duct tape PistenBully with the Brighton logo and the words “In Memory of Dave Page: 1955–2018” It is currently on display at the Island Pond Welcome Center. Bobby Tower and Dave Page worked hard together but also had a lot of fun!