2024 Kootenay Rat Raid Recap
The 20th annual Kootenay Rat Raid...what is there to say other than what an amazing weekend of great roads, amazing food and fantastic friends. For the first time since the 10th annual, we sold out. But not just sold out, we sold out by January! That has never happened! We welcomed over 120 of our Triumph riding family and friends out to the Kootenays this year and everyone showed up with great attitudes to make the weekend even better! Sorry to those who couldn't make it last minute but as always, happy to send you your packages!!
The full list of sponsors is listed below but we were happy to welcome representation from M&M Performance which is the Triumph Dealership in Kelowna, Montgomery Distillery from Missoula, Morto from Missoula, Alarmtron from Vancouver, Grover Law Firm from Calgary and Mainjet Motorports from Nelson!!
As this was an added day event being an anniversary, we had some on road and offroad rides on the Thursday. Although Aaron wasn't able to take the offroad crew out himself, he did send them on a familiar trail for the veterans of Aaron's rides. On the on road side, Brad Harder and Graham Makcrow representing M&M Performance took a group out for a spirited ride through the Kootenays!
Friday we headed out as the biggest group for Photo Friday to date and made our way up to Kaslo then over the 31A towards New Denver. We stopped at Fish Lake to settle the group so we could space out for our annual action shot care of Liam. Fish Lake holds different meanings for different people. Some like to visit the peacefulness it gives you, others have special ties with friends we have lost along the way. Either way, it is a beautiful place to stop and share with others. We even got a fantastic group shot from out there that you can see at the top of this page! Riders were then sent out one by one with an 8 second delay to allow for space back towards Kaslo as fires in the area around Slocan limited our ability to loop. Liam does such a great job with these photos each year and the keepsake is appreciated by all!
Saturday had a couple of planned group rides for those interested. Alberta Raid attendee Geoff did set up a great laid back on road ride while Brad and Graham headed out with a more spirited group again! Aaron from Mainjet brought along his daughter and brother who took out a dozen or so of our off road guys for some trail riding! Others went out and enjoyed their own route or even stayed off bike for the day and explored Nelson including the Saturday market. Either way, Saturday was to do as you please until judging started at 4:30 for the Show & Shine and our banquet at 6:00.
The Show 'n Shine was a huge success. Some really amazing bikes won awards. A big thank you to our judges for this year who not by coincidence were winners last year! They included Chris Fry, Jenni Bailey, Gina Olson, Loreen Youngman, Lou Haymond, Lark Hawk and Don Der.
The banquet, dinner as usual was fantastic. The Adventure always does such a great job with everything they do for us. Before dinner we thanked our sponsors and raised a glass in memory of those we lost in the previous year and present our Memorial Plaque to the Adventure Hotel! This plaque holds the names of those we have lost and will hang proudly in the hotel for years to come.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were off to give away some goodies from M&M Performance, Mainjet Motorsports, Grover Law Firm, Montgomery Distillery, Lords of Dirt, and a boat load of shirts and hoodies from Triumph! The room was full of positive energy and decorated with all of our shirt designs over the years! With that, we recognized the couple of gents who wore their 1st annual shirts! What a ride over the 20 years! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, I went to sort out the 50/50 and Sammi took that opportunity to grab the microphone to thank me for my efforts on behalf of the group and was again presented with a generous gift from everyone. We drew for the 50/50 which was over $600 to the winner, first time attendee Bones. The other half of course donated to charity, the Red Cross is sure needing that with all the fires going on.
We all need to thank our partners and sponsors in this event. Without their support, the Raid as a whole would be very scaled back. So in no particular order:
Website is now updated with next year’s dates with the registration form to be added soon. The new 2024 gallery of pictures can be found under Gallery!
IMPORTANT NOTE - We have a cap on space therefore once we hit that cap, registration comes down and a waiting list will be created. Should someone find they won't be able to attend, as long as they let me know, I can connect them on a first come first serve basis from the wait list. The transfer of that registration is up to the seller and the buyer but I do need to know the outcome so I can update on my side.
Until next year, ride safe!
Cheers,
Liane
Raid Captain
The full list of sponsors is listed below but we were happy to welcome representation from M&M Performance which is the Triumph Dealership in Kelowna, Montgomery Distillery from Missoula, Morto from Missoula, Alarmtron from Vancouver, Grover Law Firm from Calgary and Mainjet Motorports from Nelson!!
As this was an added day event being an anniversary, we had some on road and offroad rides on the Thursday. Although Aaron wasn't able to take the offroad crew out himself, he did send them on a familiar trail for the veterans of Aaron's rides. On the on road side, Brad Harder and Graham Makcrow representing M&M Performance took a group out for a spirited ride through the Kootenays!
Friday we headed out as the biggest group for Photo Friday to date and made our way up to Kaslo then over the 31A towards New Denver. We stopped at Fish Lake to settle the group so we could space out for our annual action shot care of Liam. Fish Lake holds different meanings for different people. Some like to visit the peacefulness it gives you, others have special ties with friends we have lost along the way. Either way, it is a beautiful place to stop and share with others. We even got a fantastic group shot from out there that you can see at the top of this page! Riders were then sent out one by one with an 8 second delay to allow for space back towards Kaslo as fires in the area around Slocan limited our ability to loop. Liam does such a great job with these photos each year and the keepsake is appreciated by all!
Saturday had a couple of planned group rides for those interested. Alberta Raid attendee Geoff did set up a great laid back on road ride while Brad and Graham headed out with a more spirited group again! Aaron from Mainjet brought along his daughter and brother who took out a dozen or so of our off road guys for some trail riding! Others went out and enjoyed their own route or even stayed off bike for the day and explored Nelson including the Saturday market. Either way, Saturday was to do as you please until judging started at 4:30 for the Show & Shine and our banquet at 6:00.
The Show 'n Shine was a huge success. Some really amazing bikes won awards. A big thank you to our judges for this year who not by coincidence were winners last year! They included Chris Fry, Jenni Bailey, Gina Olson, Loreen Youngman, Lou Haymond, Lark Hawk and Don Der.
- Best Sport/Sport Touring - Graham Makcrow - Speed Triple
- Best Dual - Chris Mackie - Tiger 955i
- Best Modern Cruiser - Sean Connor - Thunderbird
- Best Modern Classic - Rebecca Mackie - Thunderbird Sport
- Best Overall - Wade Youngman - Bonneville SE
- Adventure Staff Choice - Mark Tucker - Thruxton
- Paul England Memorial Award - Jessica Vivero - Indian FTR 1200
- Furthest Travelled - Naveen Mundanda who took a roughly 10,000 mile motorcycle detour from Portland, to the east coast of the US, up into Canada, back down into the US then up into the Nelson! He promised to take a more direct route home!
- Oldest Triumph - Chris Mitchell - 1968 BMW - yes, not a Triumph but we wanted to reward Chris for not bringing this Death Star and celebrating the 20th in a fashion with this amazing old BMW. Next year, back to Triumph only for this award!
The banquet, dinner as usual was fantastic. The Adventure always does such a great job with everything they do for us. Before dinner we thanked our sponsors and raised a glass in memory of those we lost in the previous year and present our Memorial Plaque to the Adventure Hotel! This plaque holds the names of those we have lost and will hang proudly in the hotel for years to come.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were off to give away some goodies from M&M Performance, Mainjet Motorsports, Grover Law Firm, Montgomery Distillery, Lords of Dirt, and a boat load of shirts and hoodies from Triumph! The room was full of positive energy and decorated with all of our shirt designs over the years! With that, we recognized the couple of gents who wore their 1st annual shirts! What a ride over the 20 years! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, I went to sort out the 50/50 and Sammi took that opportunity to grab the microphone to thank me for my efforts on behalf of the group and was again presented with a generous gift from everyone. We drew for the 50/50 which was over $600 to the winner, first time attendee Bones. The other half of course donated to charity, the Red Cross is sure needing that with all the fires going on.
We all need to thank our partners and sponsors in this event. Without their support, the Raid as a whole would be very scaled back. So in no particular order:
- The Adventure Hotel (Nelson, BC) - for your 18th year in supporting and helping to host this event. Rob, Graham, Scott, Mandie, Chef, Rhonda and all the staff at the Adventure, you go above and beyond every year with help and stellar service for our group.
- Triumph Canada - Ian McKinstray and Bill Shelton, thank you for your continued support and sending us so much swag to give away!! We all more than appreciate the support from the brand we all love.
- M&M Performance (Kelowna, BC) - so grateful for the support and sending out Brad and Graham this year with some giveaways!!
- Precision Powersports (Lethbridge, AB) - Richard and Trisha, we missed you guys this year but understand sometimes it is hard to get away!!
- Alarmtron (Vancouver, BC) - James Baldo stepped up again to sponsor the event through his alarm company based out of Vancouver. Please consider him for your needs should you require home/business security systems.
- The Hume Hotel (Nelson, BC) - not just a favorite breakfast stop for our attendees, but also a great place to stay. Ryan, we appreciate your continued support of our event in your second year of sponsoring.
- Stirling All Suites Hotel (Nelson, BC) - came on as a sponsor in 2023 and offering a luxury stay within stumbling distance from the Adventure! If you book for the Raid through them, make sure you tell them you are with the Raid for your discount!
- Montgomery Distillery (Missoula, MT) - Ryan, god bless you for coming on board and coming back again and bringing all those amazing give aways from you and Lords of Dirt!!
- Grover Law Firm (Alberta) - Steve's firm has quickly become Alberta's go to for motorcycle related injury claims. As a long time rider himself with a fleet of his own, Steve is heavily involved in many motorcycle related events and associations. We thank him for the $400 gift basket that we gave away at the banquet!
- Big Cranium Designs - for their help in printing our shirts and hoodies! You should really stop by their shop and check out all the other cool stuff they sell!
- Morto - If you are ever in the Missoula area and having issues, you can always count on Morto to jump in and help out. His personal shop at his house rivals any shop out there! And you might get a great meal out of it too!
- Liam Rathgeber (Calgary, AB) - Your continued support of this event through photography does not go unnoticed. You are the reason so many of us have great memories to hold on to. The idea to shoot on the 31A has remained a success. The time lapse footage from the arrival each year was pure genius and so fun to watch! I look forward to working with you next year on making this event even better. #PhotoFridayForever
- Volunteers - Big thanks from me to all who stepped forward to help with the event. Liam for coming out early and helping me get the packs together. Sammi and Liam at registration were killer and the biggest help and David for helping sort the parking! Aaron, Graham, Brad and Geoff for setting up rides. Everyone who helped set up and tear down the tent and hauled boxes and water in and out of storage. Gina, Suze and Kate for help setting up the banquet. Sammi for helping me sell 50/50 tickets. The judges mentioned above for their efforts in the Show 'n Shine judging. Edwin for his design of this year's logo which was a huge success and fan favorite once again! And anyone I missed and I am so sorry if I did.
Website is now updated with next year’s dates with the registration form to be added soon. The new 2024 gallery of pictures can be found under Gallery!
IMPORTANT NOTE - We have a cap on space therefore once we hit that cap, registration comes down and a waiting list will be created. Should someone find they won't be able to attend, as long as they let me know, I can connect them on a first come first serve basis from the wait list. The transfer of that registration is up to the seller and the buyer but I do need to know the outcome so I can update on my side.
Until next year, ride safe!
Cheers,
Liane
Raid Captain
