It was a sunny February day at the Lloydminster Exhibition; the cold winds blew by as participants in the Cutter Rally for Cancer got their cutters and horses ready to go.
Inside the WLS Convention Centre sat a couple who had braved the cold trails for over two decades. They were getting ready to hit the trail again, this time with four generations of their family.
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Claus Young and his wife Jean were getting ready to head out again in support of the fight against cancer.
Claus, 91, says he’s been in the cutter rally since it started.
“Got a team at home, so (we) bring them in here and see what they can do,” he explains.
“We’ve missed a couple of years, but most of the time we’ve been,” Jean, 84, added, explaining she’s the passenger while Claus drives.
Jean says it’s not just a chance to drive but also visit with others.
“We’ve always had a team to drive,” she said. “It’s a chance to come and drive and visit with the rest of the people and enjoy a good supper.”
The Feb. 28 day the couple faced was a cold one, something Claus says he doesn’t like.
“We dress for it,” Jean said.
This isn’t the only rally the pair attends, having missed the Onion Lake rally as it was cancelled due to the cold the previous weekend.
“We’ve been going to Dewberry for years,” Claus said.
Claus says they’ve always had a team having been raised on horses and used as the primary mode of transportation.
“I came to Lloyd when I was six years old, well five years old with my dad. It took us three days, day and a half to get in,” he said. “We were both raised when we still had horses. That’s the only way you travelled in the wintertime.”
When asked about if they think about all the money they’ve helped raise, they said it’s something you have to do.
“Everybody’s got somebody in the family that’s got cancer and so it’s just something you do,” Jean said. “We get a treat (because) we get to drive our team as well as we get to participate and give some money to cancer.”
While they may not ride as much as they used to, they still get to do plenty of riding during the summer.
“We ride wagon trains in the summertime through Saskatoon to Lloydminster here,” Claus said.
While the couple has been attending the Cutter Rally for Cancer since its inception, they haven’t had any luck winning the big one.
“We’ve won door prizes, we’ve never won the cutter,” Jean said.
Following the chat inside, the family made their way out the trail and readied the horses. Jean and Claus would be joined by three other generations of their family as they rode along the Ron C. MacDonald trail.
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