Cain's Quest 2016: the big money spent on the big race
Teams easily spend $100,000 on the competition
Cain's Quest 2016 is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the faint of wallet.
Some competitors say it's easy to spend $100,000 just to make it to the starting line of the endurance snowmobile race, let alone finishing the trek that kicked off Friday night in Labrador City.
Cain's Quest will see teams of two cover 3,500-kilometres of grueling terrain across Labrador, before finishing approximately seven days later back where they started.
Although, many teams hesitate to put an exact price tag on the desire to push their physical and mental limits.
"I probably shouldn't talk about it," said racer Sami Päivike, eventually estimating that his team's journey from northern Finland to Labrador, which involved shipping snowmobiles by sea, cost €100,000 — or about $146,000.
But Päivike, his teammate Arto Juahiainen, and their support team had a lot of help: the lucrative world of corporate sponsorship.
Paying (part of) the way
Päivike and Juahianinen ride Lynx snowmobiles, a Finnish-made machine from Bombardier Recreational Products, the same company that makes SkiDoos.
The pair spend their pre-race days in Labrador City dressed head-to-toe in Lynx gear, and for good reason: the company has paid a substantial part of their Cain's Quest bill.
"It's a very big part of the whole project," said Päivike, who added the team is covering their own costs on the ground in Labrador.
"Personally, if we planned this kind of a tour from Europe down over here, I probably wouldn't have done it."
Sponsorships, big and small
While the Finns may have scored a big deal, most other teams look to small or medium-sized businesses to help defray the numerous expenses that go along with Cain's Quest, such as travel, fuel, and of course, beefing up their snow machines for battle.
In 2014, Dwayne Helmer and Scott Biddle of southern Ontario paid their own way to do the race, and had to drop out close to the finish.
By 2016, they've learned a few things. This time, they have a different race strategy, and a customized 53-foot trailer plastered with sponsors' logos.
"Having the trailer and the wrap on it, we were able to offer them some advertising, and it was easy for us to get the sponsorship," said Biddle, adding the team has about 14 sponsors in total.
The racers say they spent "well over" $100,000 racing in 2014, although they've been avoiding crunching the numbers for their second time around.
"We probably don't want to add it up in the end," said Helmer.
"It's more one of those things that you put it behind you and say, we did it. It costs what it costs."
Communities step up
Some racers rely heavily on their communities to make it to the starting line.
"Without fundraising, we wouldn't be here to be honest," said Team Nunavik Racing's Edward Watkins, adding the team did get a few smaller sponsorships.
"We had some bingos, a lot of raffling. We have a big music festival in the summer, so we flipped a lot of burgers and hot dogs and stuff like that — anything we could do," said his teammate Junior May.
The two spent the year prior to Cain's Quest busy with those efforts and, in the end, made $60,000 in their community of Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec, with a population of about 2,300.
"The whole community was behind us on each and every fundraiser, and they showed their support every time," said Watkins.
"That felt really good, rather than a sponsor just giving you a cheque ... you get to feel the person's personality and you feel good," said May
Still, the two estimate their race total will top $110,000.
Repaid through prizes?
Cain's Quest does offer a fat prize purse of $100,000 — $50,000 of which goes to the winner — but that isn't much of an incentive for the racers at the end of the day.
"You put thousands into it, but even if you win, you're still in the hole," said Mary's Harbour racer Craig Acreman. At $70,000, his team is competing on the cheap, relatively.
His teammate Allister agrees: "Even the first prize would hardly break you even."
The two say the adventure alone is worth the expense, a sentiment echoed by many who are now battling the elements to come out on top.
"The bragging rights is what I'm looking for," said veteran racer Gary Travers of Labrador City, who knows a thing or two about running up a Cain's Quest bill — he's competed three times before.
"Not that I don't need the money!" he hastily added, laughing.
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