ATHABASCA, Alta. — It’s not very often you can drive down Highway 827, east of Athabasca, and see a bunch of Elks, at least at the the gun range.
Edmonton Elks, that is. The team, or most of them, were on a day off and paid a visit to the Athabasca Gun Club Aug. 28 to do some skeet shooting followed by a supper at the Rochester Hall in a joint event organized by Rochester resident and member of the ag society Dwayne Rawson, and the Elks' David Beard.
“I met Dwayne a number of years ago,” Beard said. “I’ve been able to connect with him on an annual basis in my own life outside of football.”
Rawson and Beard’s fathers were both RCMP members who worked together briefly.
“This is an opportunity that came up a few years ago and we were able to get a group of guys to come out in 2019,” he said. “And we had a great time.”
Sometimes it’s nice to get out of the concrete jungle to see green and gold in nature, instead of on the gridiron.
“It's good to get out of the city (and) just get together on a non-football basis and we had such a good time that I figured that I’d present it to the guys and see if that's something we want to do again, and guys were gung-ho about it and we're having a blast again,” said Beard.
The Elks are at the bottom of the five-team Western Division in the CFL with three wins, seven losses and zero ties, and were fresh off a loss to the Ottawa Redblacks the night before.
“Obviously, we're trying to right the ship on the football field so having an opportunity to get out here and reset a little bit mentally is a big deal, it makes a big impact on us,” he said.
Elks wide receiver Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Arceneaux has shot a few clay pigeons before, but not for a few years.
“I did it a while ago," laughed Arceneaux. “It was so long ago I don't remember. That's why it was like I'm starting all over again.”
The Louisiana native has never been north of Edmonton before, so he enjoyed the trip.
“This is my first time out this way,” he said. “This is awesome being out in the middle of nowhere, it’s just a nice remote spot.”
And while he appreciated the team-building aspect, it’s hard to take the competitive spirit out of an athlete.
“I had a blast, man. It was awesome. (But) like I say, it's the competitive part," said Arceneaux. “I started off and probably my first 10-15 shots I’m starting to catch on. But my whole thing was I can't be the worst out of everybody that's here so let me at least get one, then let me get two, then three.”
The team went back to Rochester for a supper put on by the ag society before returning to Edmonton.