A cross country ski club in the Ottawa area is celebrating after being named the Kraft Heinz Project Play Grand Prize Winner.
The Nakkertok Nordic Cross Country Ski Club in Cantley, QC, beat out 819 other applicants to win the $250,000 prize.
"It was absolutely thrilling, "said Jennifer Tomlinson, a lead on the successful nomination. "Over the moon excitement for everybody and a complete surprise."
The ski club will use the money to upgrade its 75 kilometers of trails, to buy snow machines and to prepare the trails for year round use. The investment in the nearly 50 year old club will give local skiers more time on snowy trails and on home turf. The club expects the snow machines to give skiers an extra 6 to 8 weeks of training time on snow.
"It means we don't have to travel very far," said 17-year-old Meghan Burns. "A lot of people have to go up north or to BC to train and that will be better for our parents and we will be able to ski right here."
The Nakkertok Nordic Cross Country Ski Club was forced in 1971 and now has about 1,400 members.
More than 900,000 votes from people across Canada were registered during the voting period. The second, third and fourth place finishers were each awarded $20,000 by Kraft Heinz Project Play.
