Junior Derby winners: The Junior Derby winners are, from left, Aiden Iving; Lauren Bresseau; Jillian Finlay; Stacey Jones; Marcus Sovey and Reid Schauer. Standing behind the children are, from left, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MP Cheryl Gallant, Cobden Civitan club president Kevin Lamorie and Whitewater Region Mayor Hal Johnson.
Fishing Derby winners: Fish derby winners are, front row from left, Perch: Hunter Muselak, Shawna Brotton, Mike Ott; second row from left, Pike: Andrew Cameron, Larry Burcheski, Shawn Finley; third row from left, Lance Buckwalt, Jason English, Ryan Rathwell and alone in the back row is Club president Kevin Lamorie.
by Connie Tabbert
Editor
COBDEN — Brad Schofield of Eganville took home the top prize from the Cobden and District Club Ice Fishing Derby – a boat and motor co-sponsored with Dick Plummer Marine.
John Hunt won the one-man ice-fishing tent; Max Cull won the ice auger and Brad Barton won the trip for two to Las Vegas.
Club president Kevin Lamorie noted there were 1,178 fishermen and 101 children who participated in the fishing derby, which is the largest number of participants in the history of the seven-year event.
“Thanks to everyone for coming today,” he said addressing the large crowd gathered at the boat launch in Cobden prior to awarding the prizes. “Beautiful day on the beautiful lake in a beautiful town.
“Can’t thank you guys enough for coming out and supporting our derby.”
Mr. Lamorie noted the event is only possible due to the volunteers and businesses who donate time and prizes. The volunteers include the organizing committee, those cooking the food throughout the day, the volunteers weighing the fish as they’re brought to the weigh-station and those at the registration booth and draw table. These are people who may not even be members of the Civitan club, they just want to help out, he said.
“To pull off this derby is quite a feat,” he said, adding, “Obviously by the size of the crowd, we did okay.”
Most of the prizes are all donated or co-sponsored by various businesses, Mr. Lamorie said. The Township of Whitewater Region also helped with the event, with the public works crew plowing the parking lot, he added.
Whitewater Region Mayor Hal Johnson said, “You people out here have come to Whitewater Region to make Whitewater Region proud.
“I’d like you to give yourselves a round of applause for being here and supporting this derby.
“This is the biggest turnout so far,” he said. “It’s one of the functions within Whitewater Region that make Whitewater Region proud.”
It’s the volunteers and the youth who have come here that make him excited about events in the municipality.
“It’s the next generation of volunteers, who are the youth, who will be participating here today,” he said.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MP Cheryl Gallant thanked everyone for making the day a safe one.
“I know we haven’t had the cold weather, so there’s a bit of concern about all the people on the ice,” she said.
She thanked the organizers of the event.
Mr. Lamorie said prizes for the Junior Derby were provided by Bob Izumi’s Kids Cops and Canadian Tire and the Ontario Police Association. He noted those participating in the Junior Derby did not have to pay and each received a prize bag, along with the top six receiving an extra prize.
Junior Derby: Aiden Iving; Lauren Bresseau; Jillian Finlay; Stacey Jones; Marcus Sovey and Reid Schauer.
Pike: Andrew Cameron, Larry Burcheski and Shawn Finley
Trout: Lance Buckwalt, Jason English and Ryan Rathwell
Perch: Hunter Muselak, Shawna Brotton and Mike Ott
