Chris Lowrey
QUEBEC CITY
May 10, 2019
Denis Rozon, the owner and operator of Timberland Tours in Bristol, was presented with an award recognizing his volunteerism associated with the events his business hosts.
Rozon was presented with the Dollard-Morin Sport and Recreation Volunteer Award by Isabelle Charest, Minister of Education and Minister responsible for the Status of Women.
Timberland Tours hosts two of the biggest dog sledding events in the country.
Each winter, hundreds of racers from around the world flock to Rozon’s track to take part in the Pontiac International Sled Dog and Skijoring Race. When the weather is warmer and there’s no snow for the sleds, Rozon hosts the Bristol Dryland World Championship Dog Race, which was started in 2010.
The awards ceremony featured 17 recipients from across the country.
Rozon said the awards first came on his radar when speaking with representatives from Loisir Sport Outaouais about securing provincial funding to help with the costs of putting on events.
The Loisirs Sport Outaouais representatives discovered that Rozon was eligible for the award.
Rozon said he got a call on April 1 from a representative from the provincial government saying he’d won and they’ll be in contact with details soon.
“I didn’t hear anything for a while so I thought it was April fools or something,” Rozon said in his deadpan delivery.
He eventually did get the details and got an all-expenses-paid trip to Quebec City where he’d receive the award in the vaunted Red Chamber of the National Assembly.
In a sign of the reach that the Pontiac has, Rozon was sought out by one of the members of the selection committee who has ties to the region.
Rozon said he’s hopeful that this award can help to put both the business and the region on the map. On top of that, he’s also hopeful it will make it easier to secure financial assistance from different levels of government in the future.
