2008 Pursuit: The Search for Automotive Excellence

Feasting at the Oasis

The Couples

The Vehicles 

THE JOURNEY

Pursuit—the word itself infers a chase: chasing your dreams, chasing excellence. That’s why we named our annual Winnipeg Men luxury test drive event Pursuit–The Search for Automotive Excellence.

The premise of Pursuit is simple—to test the leaders in the latest “hot” category of car by taking them on the road and rating them in terms of look, feel and practicality. For our fourth annual event, we chose crossover utility vehicles because of their growing popularity—both for their seating and storage space—and for their fuel efficiency. Oh, and they’re also pretty fun to drive.

Every year, the number of entries we receive climbs—this year it rose by the hundreds. Thankfully, the decision lay in the hands of our panel, who chose nine lucky couples from almost 500 entries. Typical of a late May weekend in Manitoba, our trek began in the rain. This didn’t dampen the spirits of our group, however, as we fueled-up on the dark roast at Mountain Bean Coffee Co. While we dried off, and our photographer snapped our rides, we toured the SpaLifestyle & Fashion Boutique next door. The morning showers also provided us with time to get acquainted with our gift bags, which included products from Madison Lane Boutique.

After it cleared up, we piled two-by-two into our first test vehicle and headed north to our ultimate destination—the newly-renovated Radisson Hecla Oasis Resort in Manitoba’s Interlake. To give our drivers a route with a view, we headed up Highway 6, leaving the rain behind us and nothing but spectacular lakeside scenery ahead. If you have not driven this part of the province, you should definitely include it in this summer’s “to do” list. 

After a few hours of leisurely driving, switching cars along the way, the group made its way to the entrance of the newly renovated Radisson Hecla Oasis Resort. For those who hadn’t been out to Hecla for a number of years, the change was dramatic. The Paletta family has successfully managed to return the resort to its former grandeur and create a destination spot that is worth coming back to.

Besides the luxuriously appointed guest rooms, the resort offers one of the top golf courses in the province, and is also family-friendly, thanks in large part to a new water park. Also impressing our test drivers was the quality of food prepared by award-winning chef Stephane Pierre Thierry—see the sidebar on page 21 for our menu. The food, the fantastic rooms and the amazing golf course were just a few of the unforgettable experiences we had at the resort over the weekend, which were recounted by the Pursuit drivers all the way back home to Winnipeg.

We would like to thank all of the entrants for this year’s event, the fabulous Radisson Hecla Oasis Resort for providing such world-class accommodations, Mountain Bean Coffee for the coffee and food to start our weekend and SpaLifestyle & Fashion Boutique for providing everyone with great gift packages and the ladies with the latest fashion boutique to visit often.

– Glenn Tinley

TO OFFSET THE ENVIRONENTAL IMPACT OF VEHICLE EMISSIONS DURING OUR TEST DRIVE WEEKEND, WINNIPEG MEN MAGAZINE HAS PURCHASED A TONNE OF  CARBON OFFSETS FOR EACH DRIVER THAT PARTICIPATED IN OUR EVENT.

To enter for a chance to participate in next year’s event, visit our Contests Page.