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UPDATED: Return of Big Iron Shootout threatens to overshadow Revelstoke Snowmobile Club's big weekend

Controversial Big Iron Shootout rumoured to take place same weekend as Revelstoke Snowmobile Club's Vintage Ride and Snowarama.
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The Revelstoke Snowmobile Club Vintage Ride is a chance for sledders to breakout their vintage machines.

The Revelstoke Snowmobile Club is gearing up for a big weekend, with the Vintage Ride on Saturday and the Snowarama drag races on Sunday.

Unfortunately, it may be overshadowed by the return of the Big Iron Shootout, the major, unsanctioned snowmobile event that was last held five years ago.

The snowmobile club says almost 40 snowmobilers are registered for Saturday's vintage ride — a celebration of the sports history where sledders will break out their classic rides for a trip up Boulder Mountain.

There will be a show and shine at the cabin at non, with trophies handed out for best costume, best sleds, farthest traveled to the event, and more.

On Sunday, the club is hosting Snowarama at the Frisby Ridge parking lot. The highlight of the event will be the snowmobile drag races, which will feature multiple classes for various kinds of sleds. There is also a silent auction and raffle, with all money raised going to the Easter Seal program.

The Snowmobile Club is worried the return of the Big Iron Shootout might overshadow the weekened.

The shootout was a major snowmobile event that attracted more than 1,000 snowmobilers to town and was supported by the community. It slowly fell out of favour. The last time it was held, on March 13, 2010, it ended in tragedy when two snowmobilers died and dozens more were injured in an avalanche on Turbo Hill.

There is little information online indicating the event is taking place this year, other than two threads on the Snow and Mud forum discussing its return.

Still, the possibility prompted a post from the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club saying they were "in NO way affiliated with this event."

"To our knowledge the organizer has not gone through proper channels to hold this event," the club wrote. "It is the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club's goal to promote the events that all of our hard working volunteers and club members are participating in. These people have taken the time and effort to go through the proper procedures to provide safe and enjoyable events for everyone."

Daniel Kellie, the president of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club told the Times Review the club has been trying to get in touch with David Clark, the organizer of the Big Iron Shootout, for several months now, and that they have been dealing with the possibility of the event happening with the RCMP and Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.