North Bay Nugget e-edition

On track for Jack

GREG ESTABROOKS

It was an emotional day for many at a presentation for what is called a bi-ski at the Laurentian Ski Hill on Saturday.

The bi-ski is a half-sled of sorts equipped with skis. It enables special needs children a chance to ride down the ski hill.

This piece of equipment is not the first such bi-ski at Laurentian, it is the 4th.

However, it is the biggest one yet, made so older, larger children can enjoy the rush of skiing.

The Nipissing Trackers is a volunteer group who work with special needs children on the ski hill. The new bi-ski has been dubbed “The Jack Lyons Kindness Cruiser”.martial Gerolami is the Nipissing Trackers current co-ordinator (a duty he shares with his wife) and worked with Jack Lyons on the ski hill for years.

He reflected on the impact the young man had on him.

“Smiley Jack,” is how Gerolami says he referred to Lyons. “He always had a smile on his face when he came in here. Always in a good mood. (He) loved being out on the hill. He was a real clown in here (the upper chalet) with me. Jack would get up close to me and steal my cookies,” says a smiling Gerolami.

James Stewart is the president of NADY (Nipissing Association of Disabled Youth) and has a son, Dylan Rivenbark, who is a member of the Nipissing Trackers.

“I brought Dylan out when he was six to bi-ski,” sats Stewart. “I went out and got involved with the Trackers, as a parent, volunteering my time. Then they (Nipissing Trackers) found out I could ski so now I am one of the Trackers instructors and one of the primary drivers of the bi-ski,” remarked Stewart.

Dylan, now 15, is thrilled with the new addition to the bi-ski fleet.

“I’m glad that they could do this,” says Dylan. “It is a bigger-sized biski so someone bigger like me can

fit into it.”

Dylan cannot wait to go down Laurentian in the new bi-ski.

“The first one or two times I am nervous,” says the 15-year-old. “After that I’m fine.”

Mark Lyons made an impassioned statement to the audience and reflected on the joy he sees when he takes people down the hill on this piece of equipment.

“My thing with taking the kids downhill,” says Mark Lyons. “Picking them up out of a wheelchair and putting them in that chair and taking them down that ski hill, it is a feeling that is nothing better,” remarked Lyons. “To give them that freedom going down the ski hill (is great). This new bi-ski is so needed, we are so excited for tomorrow (Sunday),” stated Mark Lyons.

Sunday was the first day the new bi-ski was utilized. Stewart tells The Nugget that there are more than 40 kids that are involved in the Nipissing Trackers.

One of them travels from Sudbury almost every weekend to join in on the fun.

This bi-ski costs between $8,000 and $9,000. The Lyons family and other donors contributed to the fundraising.

LOCAL

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2023-01-31T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-31T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://eeditionnugget.pressreader.com/article/281526525196532

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