With the first snowfall , the excitement of those who love snowmobiling begins to build . We have seen it with our students and also in the eyes of our colleagues . This was especially true of my former colleague , Chris Swan .

Chris Swan , a teacher at J . R . Robson School in Vermilion , was a triple winner in power tobogganing races at the Winter Carnival . Chris won the obstacle course , the cross-country , and the lap race in the under-320 cc classes .( Vermilion Standard , 1969 )— a very impressive start in the racing world !

Chris raced on the sanctioned circuit with the North Western Snowmobile Association .

Trophies from Alberta and Saskatchewan races line the shelves of his workshop . Collections of armbands and racing numbers generate stories of those early racing days .

At the end of the 1978 season , Chris retired from racing to spend more time with his family . He sold his machines and purchased cross-country skiing equipment for the family . Apparently , though , racing was still in his blood : soon he and daughter , Erin , were involved in cross-country ski races .

A bike crash in 1992 brought the world of snowmobiles back into his life , but this time down a different path . While he recovered from broken ribs and a broken shoulder , he read Warriors of Winter : The previously untold history of snowmobile racing by Bill Vint . Then he began to wonder what had become of his first sled . This question would launch a

10 Winter 2013