Alphee LeBlanc, Volunteer of the Moncton-St. Antoine Snowmobile Club, NBFSC Club #15, and long-serving Zone 6 Director, was awarded the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organization’s (CCSO) Excellence Award for Outstanding Snowmobilerin Canada at the conclusion of the 2014 season.
At the 46th International Snowmobile Congress (ISC), hosted inColorado, in June 2014 Alphee attended with NBFSC President, Sandy Young and General Manager, Ross Antworth the closing International Awards Banquet. The CCSO annual awardannounced at the ISC is the highest award a snowmobiler-volunteer can have bestowed upon them in Canada.
Alphee is the ultimate description of passionate! He is well known throughout the entire Province by many of the other Club’s volunteers andsnowmobilers. Alphee snowmobiles everywhere – or everywhere Bernice will let him – recently adding the Maine snowmobile trails to his places he has visited. Alphee also usually enjoys the trails in Quebec once or twice a year and is someone that has certainly snowmobiled in every Zone of the Federation if not in at least a portion of almost all 51-member clubs. As Alphee would say, “Me, I am a Snowmobiler!”
Alphee’s passion for his Yamaha Blue is also well known. Rumours are that the folks at Arctic Cat, Ski-Doo and Polaris have even offered Alphee afree sled in Green, Yellow or Red, but Alphee, true to his character and besides being passionate is also very loyal.
His loyalty is obvious. He has volunteered as a Director of the Federation for more than a decade over two different terms. He has chaired numerous board Committees including the Federation’s Trail Committee. His fingerprint is onmany of our operating policies, programs, the new Provincial Map. Alphee never gives up and if you have had the privelage of working with him, you grow to love his tenacity.
Alphee believes in a Provincial – Tourism trail system and has taken the lead to grow his snowmobile Club from a “local trails only” approachto becoming a partner in a Province-wide Winter Tourism product. His support at the Federation’s Board of Director’s table is to always make decisions that enhance the big picture, move the NBFSC forward. His approach has been to not decide what is best for one trail, one Club or one Zone, rather what is the best decision, provincially.
Alphee has made snowmobiling in New Brunswick better by never quitting, donating his tireless energy, and providing a diligent approach in keeping the volunteers in his club motivated to carry out the mundane tasks…many times doing them himself. He is constantly thinking, and refuses to take no for an answer, especially when dealing with the frustrations of government, rules and / or regulations. He is in a word, passionate!
The NBFSC was proud to nominate Alphee and to witness his Club and Provincial accomplishments being rewarded by the CCSO at the ISC. He joins a long list of NBFSC volunteers who have also been awarded the CCSO’s Excellence Award in the past 15 years; Evelyn Broad (Twin Rivers SC), Bob Walsh (MiramichiValley SC) and Harold McCann (Fredericton SC) and Don Wheaton (Miramichi Sno-Goers SC).
