The Pemberton BMX Club congratulated Invermere for its win on Friday afternoon, after being informed that the Rotary Club of Invermere won the head-to-head vote in the cross-Canada Kraft Celebration Tour presented by TSN. Ten winners out of 20 finalists will earn $25,000 towards a sports or recreation project in the community during the Kraft Celebration Tour.
Pemberton BMX was shortlisted out of more than 600 communities for the finals, which matched communities against one another based on location and size. Invermere did have a slight advantage over Pemberton going in with a full-time population of 3,500 permanent residents versus 2,300. As well, Invermere and the surrounding area have a lot of second homeowners.
Invermere will spend the $25,000 as part of a project to build a $320,000 water park at Kinsmen Beach. Pemberton BMX would have spent the money on a new start gate and staging area for riders.
The vote totals were not available at press time, but Pemberton BMX vowed to keep moving their track plans forward. "We'll just have to find another way to do what we want to do to the track, this is not the last you've heard of Pemberton BMX!" they said via Facebook.
