By: Leah Bauer

Snowmobiling has been a passion of mine since an early age. Racing and riding is in my blood. My Dad is a 3-time World Junior Champion snowmobile racer and I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I can remember trail riding for hours and was always disappointed when we arrived at our destination, because I wanted to keep going. I couldn’t get enough. From a young age, I was very competitive and begged my Dad to let me race. Finally, after much convincing, I did my first and only Sno-X race at the age of 18, with no experience or practice other than riding the trails.  This year I received various opportunities to race Vintage Oval and Cross Country, and also teamed up with the Pink Ribbon Riders to support their efforts for breast cancer. I’ve been putting on miles to raise money for the cause. Due to the lack of snow, it’s been a tough first year. Many of the oval races were cancelled early on. I had planned on racing the I500 from Winnipeg to Wilmar, but it too got cancelled. I was quite disappointed, but was determined to keep entering myself into other races. So far I’ve raced two vintage oval races and this past weekend I raced in the Red Bull Snow Boundaries. It was by far the most fun and challenging event I’ve ever competed in.  I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped, but you can bet I will be back next year ready to rip!  This coming weekend I’ll be racing in my final event of the year - the USXC Cross Country race in Warroad, Minnesota. The race is nearly 50 miles on Saturday and 50 miles on Sunday. I can only hope all the training I’ve done for the I500 pays off. I am so excited to say that I’ve accomplished some of my goals this season and have had the time of my life doing it. I greatly appreciate all the support from my family, friends and sponsors, and cannot wait to see what next year brings! This is truly what it means to be a Backwoods Promo team member!