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A large-scale plan to build a highway connecting Gatineau-Hull to Montréal could put the Canadian Ski Marathon's current route in jeopardy. The highway, Autoroute 50, is expected to bring increased commercial and residential development when the final section is completed in 2010.

The current route between Montréal and the Gatineau region cuts through Ontario. The new highway will allow travelers to complete the trip without leaving Quebec, but it could pose a problem for ski marathon organizers who rely on private land agreements. About 90 per cent of the trail is on private land.

"One of the problems we're going to have is urban sprawl," says Greg Koebl, vice-president of the Canadian Ski Marathon."People are going to want to move out and that could infringe on the trail."

Koebl and fellow marathon executives are working with the landowners and government to build a permanent trail instead of the temporary one that gets groomed for each year's event.

"We're hoping the government may be able to expropriate land for public use," Koebl says,"to be set aside not only for our event but for anyone wanting to ski in the winter and bike and hike in the summer."

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