2025 Kootenay Rat Raid Recap
The 21st annual Kootenay Rat Raid...what is there to say other than what an amazing weekend of great roads, amazing food and fantastic friends. We had 97 registered with 88 of our Triumph riding family and friends made it 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, your packages should arrive soon if they haven't already!!
The full list of sponsors is listed below but we were happy to welcome representation from Morto from Missoula, Alarmtron from Vancouver, and Mainjet Motorports from Nelson who were able to make it out this year in person!
We would also like to thank the Adventure for placing our Memorial plaque that was completed last year in a prime spot in the lobby of the hotel. It's nice to say hi to our friends we have lost when we arrive.
We are back to our normal 3 day program with this being not an anniversary year. And while some folks still came out on Wednesday, most did arrive on Thursday. Liam always sets up to take a timelapse of the arrival day which can be found on the home page!
Friday we headed out for Photo Friday and made our way up to Kaslo then over the 31A towards New Denver. As always, 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. Riders were then sent out one by one with an 10 second delay to allow for space continuing on towards New Denver. No fires this year to prevent us from doing the full Slocan loop. Liam does such a great job with these photos each year and the keepsake is appreciated by all!
Saturday had our usual off road ride and a choose your own adventure free day for those not offroading. Aaron from Mainjet brought along his daughter, son in law 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 Graham Makcrow, Sean Connor, Wade Youngman, Mark Tucker and Jessica Vivero. And for something different, a suggestion was made and we ran with it where the winners from the previous year will hand out their trophies to the new winners!
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 did a little housekeeping of stories, welcoming new folks, etc.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were almost getting ready to start giveaways when the kitchen door flew open and a giant sparkler on a cake came out. The entire room sang me happy birthday to celebrate my 50th As if the card signed by all, the gifts from close friends weren't enough! Then we were off to give away some goodies from Mainjet Motorsports, Grover Law Firm, Precision Motorsports, Argyl Motorsports, Jessica Vivero and some high dollar items from Triumph Canada! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, we presented the 50/50 winnings to Lou Haymond who quickly turned it back and said "give it all to charity". What a guy!! 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 2025 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 Morto from Missoula, Alarmtron from Vancouver, and Mainjet Motorports from Nelson who were able to make it out this year in person!
We would also like to thank the Adventure for placing our Memorial plaque that was completed last year in a prime spot in the lobby of the hotel. It's nice to say hi to our friends we have lost when we arrive.
We are back to our normal 3 day program with this being not an anniversary year. And while some folks still came out on Wednesday, most did arrive on Thursday. Liam always sets up to take a timelapse of the arrival day which can be found on the home page!
Friday we headed out for Photo Friday and made our way up to Kaslo then over the 31A towards New Denver. As always, 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. Riders were then sent out one by one with an 10 second delay to allow for space continuing on towards New Denver. No fires this year to prevent us from doing the full Slocan loop. Liam does such a great job with these photos each year and the keepsake is appreciated by all!
Saturday had our usual off road ride and a choose your own adventure free day for those not offroading. Aaron from Mainjet brought along his daughter, son in law 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 Graham Makcrow, Sean Connor, Wade Youngman, Mark Tucker and Jessica Vivero. And for something different, a suggestion was made and we ran with it where the winners from the previous year will hand out their trophies to the new winners!
- Best Sport/Sport Touring - Brad Harder - Daytona Moto 2
- Best Dual - Ian Vivero - Scrambler 1200 XE
- Best Modern Cruiser - Lisa Tucker - Bobber
- Best Modern Classic - Dawn - Bonneville Black
- Best Overall - Brian Smith - Thruxton
- Adventure Staff Choice - Colin Chambers - Bonneville
- Paul England Memorial Award - Rob Henry - Jarama
- Furthest Travelled - Michael Rollins who took scenic route up this year from Portland logging in roughly 1950km!
- Oldest Triumph - Colin Chambers - early 2000 Bonneville took the win for the oldest this year!
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 did a little housekeeping of stories, welcoming new folks, etc.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were almost getting ready to start giveaways when the kitchen door flew open and a giant sparkler on a cake came out. The entire room sang me happy birthday to celebrate my 50th As if the card signed by all, the gifts from close friends weren't enough! Then we were off to give away some goodies from Mainjet Motorsports, Grover Law Firm, Precision Motorsports, Argyl Motorsports, Jessica Vivero and some high dollar items from Triumph Canada! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, we presented the 50/50 winnings to Lou Haymond who quickly turned it back and said "give it all to charity". What a guy!! 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!!
- Argyll Motorsports (Edmonton, AB) - under new ownership and management, Marco and his team are there to support our community again!
- 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!
- Smelly Dog Machine & Design - Ian has been producing our custom Show & Shine awards since the 20th! We appreciate the time and effort that he puts into these awards!
- 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!
- Edwin Herrenschmidt - our graphic designer extraordinaire who always comes out with a design we all love! We are so grateful to have him as our friend and designer. We hope he comes back over from France for a visit one year!
- 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 and Nicole for coming out early and helping me get the packs together. Kate and Liam at registration were killer with assists from Sammi, Gina and Nicole when required! Aaron and fam, for setting up the offroad ride. Everyone who helped set up and tear down the tent and hauled boxes and water in and out of storage. Gina and Liam for help setting up the banquet. Sammi for helping me sell 50/50 tickets. Kate for handing out the door prize 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 2025 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
