Thieves make tracks with stolen trailer loaded with ski trail grooming equipment

Thieves used a grinder to cut off locks before hauling away a trailer loaded with specialized equipment from a Winnipeg community club.

"It makes me look at everything and go, wow, what else are they going to steal? The trust is now gone. We just have to look at everything and lock up everything," said Brent Prusak, who manages the cross-country ski trails for Wildwood Park Community Centre.

The equipment, used to groom the trails, was set to be moved into an off-season secure facility but was temporarily stored beside the centre. 

Prusak intended to move it Friday but ran out of time between other demands with work and home life. He returned Tuesday morning, the first day after the long weekend, to do it instead.

"And unfortunately, it was gone. Locks were cut off and the machine and the trailer were gone," he said.

He estimated the stolen items were worth $75,000.

The equipment included a Polaris side-by-side with a plow and a Yellowstone Track Systems groomer, all strapped down on a 22-foot-long double-wide trailer.

"It's very specific for ski trail grooming," said Prusak.

A lot of work went into modifying and outfitting the machine for grooming, he said.

"We're hoping that it gets returned or found and we can at least get parts of it back, anyway."

Based on conversations with people in the neighbourhood and when the equipment was last seen there, Prusak believes the theft happened Sunday night.

He and others are checking to see if anyone has security cameras that might have caught the vehicle that towed away the trailer.

"Hopefully we can at least see it driving by, [but] the police said it's probably a stolen vehicle, anyway, and if it's not a stolen vehicle, it's got stolen plates," he said.

Prusak's been blaming himself for the theft.

"I know I shouldn't, but hindsight is 20-20. I should have just taken it on Friday and just dropped everything [else]. It's very disappointing," he said.

"But no one got hurt. It's just a bunch of things. We'll bounce back from that."

One way or another, the club will have grooming equipment again — whether it is returned or needs to be repurchased, Prusak said.

"We're going to go on," he said, but he hasn't been able to give much thought to how that will happen.

"We do not have anything in the budget at this point."

Whenever and however the equipment is replaced, one thing is absolutely certain, he said.

"I'm going to put GPS on everything."