London, ON — The inaugural Drivers’ Holiday Challenge in support of Toys For Tots, hosted Sunday evening (Dec. 20) at The Raceway at the Western Fair District, was an overwhelming success.

Marc St. Louis Jr. and Bob McClure shared top honors in the inaugural Drivers’ Holiday Challenge at The Raceway at the Western Fair District. WFD photo.

The point-based challenge was contested over an 11-race card and featured top drivers from Woodbine Mohawk Park and The Raceway.

The group of drivers on the card consisted of Woodbine Mohawk Park’s leading reinsmen — Bob McClure, Doug McNair, Louis-Philippe Roy and Trevor Henry — as well as top local teamsters Marc St. Louis Jr., Colin Kelly, Tyler Borth and Scott Wray.

The battle went right down to the wire, with St. Louis and McClure sharing the victory with 87 points. Colin Kelly finished third with 84 points.

The real winners of the day were the children that are assisted by the Toys For Tots charity. The drivers donated their fees for the day and The Raceway matched the drivers’ donation. More than C$5,700 was raised to support children in need during the holiday season.

The harness racing community was also out in full force, with plenty of donations coming in supporting Toys For Tots.

Special thanks are extended to Shannon and Trevor Henry for organizing a toy drive to support this great initiative.

The Henrys offered a drawing for a C$100 gift card from The Keg to participants who donated a new toy and selected a driver to win the competition. Well over 300 toys were donated, which truly shows the kindness and generosity of the harness racing community. The gift card winner was Katie Currie from Guelph, Ont.

The Raceway was also proud to have COSA TV, presented by CUJO Entertainment, providing live coverage of the event. The broadcast was available on the Standardbred Canada website as well as other social media platforms.

Toys For Tots (Canada) is a Canadian charity based on local partnerships between Canadian Armed Forces, businesses, and concerned citizens whose sole focus as an organization is to provide toys for children who are in need. Toys For Tots works to address and prevent specific problems faced by families and their supporting charity organizations by providing toys to children who would otherwise go without during a major religious holiday, and provide toys throughout the calendar year to local emergency and social agencies to distribute to children during catastrophic circumstances.