Winnipeg is host to the largest winter festival in all of Western Canada. For 10 days every February, the "Festival Du Voyageur" celebrates the history and importance of the fur-trade era in Manitoba. As part of this festival, there is a 64-man competition known as the Voyageur Games. Last year, Aikens sponsored two competitors in Dave and Dan. They competed hard and had the support of nearly everyone of our staff members! The whole crew was out to cheer them on, and they did well... just falling short of qualifying for the finals. Fast forward now to this summer. We have many young, strong men that work at Aikens... and they had something to say! Dan and Dave were not going to be merely given the opportunity to compete under the Aikens Lake banner again next winter... they would have to earn it! There were 12 competitors signed up to compete. The "Voyageur Games" feature 5 events, all of which were done around campfires in eras gone by. It is easy to picture the men of the fur trade competing like we did tonight! The first event is the leg wrestling. It was a close battle, and it set the tone for the evening! The next event was Dave's moment to get back in the competition. He had a close battle with Pat in the finals, but not even Pat's gumby-like reach was able to topple Dave. The third event of the night was the pillow fight. Contestants stand on a 4"x4" beam and try to knock each other off with a sandbag full of fluff! Despite a shaky first match, Andre was able to gain his balance and ended up as the winner of the event. The fourth event is a tug of war standing on a log. It's a true cat and mouse game. Andre and Dan faced off in the final and each one one in the best of three. The tie-breaker was a classic match that lasted over a minute! Andre finally ended up winning when Dan couldn't handle the pain of the rope burn that nearly took his finger off, and the rope fell from his hands! Going into the final event, there were four people who were in contention to finish in the top two. Turbo, Dan, Dave, and Andre were all at the top of the points lead. The final event was a timed cutting of a log. After the first heat, Turbo had the best time with a cut of 11.41 seconds. In the second heat, even though Turbo improved his time to just over 10 seconds, Dave was able to beat it by finishing with a cut of 9.78 seconds! The final standings had Dave on top with 500 points, Andre in 2nd at 450 points, and Turbo and Dan tied for 3rd at 400 points. It was a great competition and we look forward to cheering on Dave and Andre this winter at the Voyageur Games in Winnipeg!

Dave and Andre to represent Aikens in Voyageur Games