Two of Canada's most popular sports broadcasting personalities, Kate Beirness and Darren Dutchyshen of TSN, recently sat behind a few Standardbreds as part of the Kraft Celebration Tour.
The Kraft Celebration Tour (KCT) connects Canadians through sharing stories of community pride, perseverance and the love of sport. Over the past five years, TSN and Kraft have awarded $1,250,000 to help communities build better places to play.
Ten communities are chosen as finalists by a judging panel. Those communities then become a stop on The Kraft Celebration Tour each receiving a community celebration and a live TSN SportsCentre broadcast.
This year, Holland, Manitoba and the Holland Recreation Committee were selected as a finalist. And as part of that stop, SportsCentre anchors Beirness and Dutchyshen got acquainted with a pair of harness racing horses on Thursday.
"When the town gets selected, our producers get in touch with the local organizing committee. We give them an overview of the activities we've done in years past," Beirness told Trot Insider en route to Saturday's stop in Ottawa, Ont. "[Harness racing] was one of the ones they suggested and we were able to get two pretty tame horses and it worked out. It was a lot of fun."
TSN's Kate Beirness heads onto the track in Holland, Man.
The horses were provided by local horsemen Kirk Rogers and Nicole Fontaine. Beirness said that they were told how to steer and stop the horses before heading onto the 100-year-old track in Holland. The adventure started with a bit of a hiccup for Beirness, who was in a jog cart for the first time.
"I was pulling back, and I thought I was pulling back with both arms with the same amount of strength...but I guess I wasn't, because the horse turned immediately right into the infield," admitted Beirness. "Other than that, I think I did pretty well. Once you get the feel of it, it's a lot better."
While initially intimidated by the speed, Beirness was much more comfortable once she got the feel of the reins. That said, sitting behind the horse gave Beirness a true feel for the Standardbred's speed and power.
"I've watched races so I know how fast they go, but being behind the horse it's different."
And given the opportunity to have more practice, Beirness quickly confirmed that if the opportunity came up to sit behind another Standardbred, she'd do it again.
Dutchyshen was also a first-time harness driver on Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
"We got peppered with some mud because it had rained the night before, so the track was a little bit wet but it was really cool."
While Beirness jogged four laps with her horse, Dutchyshen gave his more of a workout.
"My horse was a younger horse and he got out there he wanted to go," said Dutchyshen, noting that he jogged six laps. His horse, Chill Fighter, must have enjoyed the work out. Racing Saturday at Morris, he finished second.
"I've watched harness racing and I was a bit shocked [at the speed]...I was like, 'alright, we're clipping pretty good here'."
The speed of the Standardbred did surprise Dutchyshen, but that didn't scare him off from a future appearance in the race bike.
"I'd do again in a minute...it was really generous of them to offer that up."
To watch the video from SportsCentre with the footage of Beirness and Dutchyshen on the track in Holland, click the following link: KCT: Kate And Dutchy Go Harness Racing
The Kraft Celebration Tour stop on Saturday in Ottawa was the final stop for Kate and Dutchy. On Monday, TSN and Kraft will announce the Grand Prize winner of $100,000 for their community project. The remaining finalists will each receive a Secondary Prize of $25,000 for their community project.
"It's a wonderful initiative, it's one of the best things that we do at TSN," stated Dutchyshen, "I enjoy the process, I really do....we get more out of it than they do."