Thieves make tracks with community club's ski-trail grooming equipment

Winnipeg Free Press

21-05-2025

Thieves struck a south Winnipeg community centre over the long weekend, grinding through padlocks before making off with close to $100,000 worth of specialized ski trail grooming equipment.
Wildwood Park Community Centre lost an orange Polaris side-by-side with a track plow kit, tow-behind trail groomer and a 6.5-metre-long double-wide trailer.
'Yesterday, we went to grab it and it was gone and the locks were laying on the ground,' volunteer Brent Prusak, who manages the centre's cross-country ski trails, said Wednesday.
BRENT PRUSAK PHOTO
Wildwood Community Centre's trailer with the orange Polaris side-by-side with a track plow kit and tow-behind trail groomer was stolen by thieves.
'I just kind of felt sick to my stomach for a few minutes.'
Prusak, who owned the trailer, loaded it with the equipment and was temporarily storing it next to the centre. He planned to transport it to a friend's secure facility on Friday, but was sidelined by other commitments over the long weekend.
He estimated replacing the side-by-side alone could cost about $60,000, while the groomer and trailer could cost $19,000 and $15,000, respectively.
It's a major blow for the community centre, where volunteers have used the equipment to maintain a network of ski trails for three seasons, he said.
'We are just working on, hopefully, recovering it, No.1, but if we can't recover it we are going to have to replace it all,' he said.
'It's a big haul.'
BRENT PRUSAK PHOTO
It is estimated that replacing the side-by-side alone could cost about $60,000, while the groomer and trailer could cost $19,000 and $15,000 each.
Based on accounts from neighbourhood witnesses, who said they last saw the trailer during the day Sunday, Prusak believes the theft occurred sometime overnight or early Monday morning.
The community centre reported the theft to the Winnipeg Police Service, and spokesperson Ally Cox confirmed an investigation is underway.
Efforts are ongoing to locate surveillance footage from nearby cameras and identify the suspects and vehicle used in the theft, Prusak said.
'Someone in the city saw this thing going down the road; you cannot miss it,' Prusak said. 'The only thing with that is (suspects) usually use stolen vehicles to do this type of work, or stolen licence plates.'
Prusak said he and his fellow volunteers are trying to remain positive in the wake of the theft by focusing on the fact that nobody was hurt.
BRENT PRUSAK PHOTO
'Yesterday, we went to grab it and it was gone and the locks were laying on the ground,' volunteer Brent Prusak said Wednesday.
'It's just equipment. It can all be replaced,' he said, adding trail grooming will continue next season, whether or not the stolen equipment is recovered.
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Tyler SearleReporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press's city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic's creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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