Gooderham’s Ken Hoeverman is counting his Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal as a victory for dirt bikers and their cause.
The president of the Ontario Federation of Trail Riders said he often battles with misperceptions of Enduro (dirt) bikes and this honour is recognition of the good his organization has done.
“To our members, they tend to feel [the medal] helps to legitimize our sport,” Hoeverman said.
He was awarded his medal at the Trailhead Ontario Conference in June.
In 2009, Hoeverman managed to fundraise about $1 million in just 30 days from 19 partners.
The federal government had allocated $25 million for trails development to the National Trails Coalition as part of the stimulus program, with the OFTR getting a percentage.
The catch was, in order to get the government’s money, the federation had to find matching cash commitments and they had little time to do it.
Between federal funding through the federation and municipal matching dollars, $355,000 was invested in Haliburton County trails.
While many were multi-purpose trails, some didn’t allow off-road vehicles at all, Hoeverman points out.
Included in the Haliburton projects (which represent a small number of overall funded projects) was the widening and resurfacing of the Rail Trail in Haliburton for four kilometres; improvements to the Algonquin Highlands Water Trails; improvements to a linkage area for ATVs between Minden and Muskoka; and repairing trails in Highlands East including the IB&O rail trail.
“I was pretty humbled,” Hoeverman said of the experience, noting his fellow honorees had done much for their communities.