About

Our First Issue

The magazine didn’t actually start as a magazine.  The very first edition and inaugural season was printed on broadsheet newsprint.  Why you might be thinking….well, affordability.  If we started on gloss, chances are good we mightn’t have made it.  However, through the efforts of some passionate owners, employees, passionate contributors, friends and some clients that ‘believed’, we did it.  Was it easy?  Absolutely not.  Has the magazine evolved…well, that’s where we find ourselves now.  The print editions will continue to exist until our readers tell us otherwise.  However, future survival will be about the digital experience and all the additional things digital will allow us to present to you.  It’s going to be an exciting ride.

Was it Easy?
Absolutely Not.

Now lets back the bus up even further.  Andrew Goldsworthy, the founder of Sledworthy Magazine has shared the story of how his family’s passion for snowmobiling and winter adventure lead to the creation of Sledworthy Magazine.  Back in the early 1980’s, Andrew’s Dad (Bob Goldsworthy) would do week long winter snowmobile adventures through the interior of Newfoundland.  These adventures were accompanied by Ervin Locke, Don Baker and the Drodge Brothers (Andy and Charlie).  You could say this was the original crew.  After each trip, Bob would tell both Andrew and John (Andrew’s older brother) all about the great adventures, the conditions, how they traversed situations, the wildlife and some of the antics of the crew.  On one occasion, Bob said to the boys “we should start writing down these stories, I bet someone would find them interesting.”  It was that comment that stayed with Andrew for many years.

John, Bob & Andrew Goldsworthy

Now Andrew admits to being the type of kid that only thought about winter snowmobiling.  Every picture was that of a sled and every school book was doodled to death with sled drawings. Lego block creations were sleds and even dreams were about snow and sledding.

Now here’s some history that most of you don’t know, Sledworthy Magazine would never have happened if it wasn’t for a technology start-up.  Andrew and three other business partners actually started a tech company and they pioneer a web app that assisted business owners with marketing.  It allowed the business owner to discover where they had possible problems and created a realistic plan to put them on course for success.  As a start up company in the early 2000’s these guys had to be creative in the financing of their operation.  The group actually started publishing by first producing a Business-to-Business publication called Business Dynamics.  It connected 15,000 business owners in the province of Newfoundland.  This first endeavour gave Andrew a taste of publishing.  Over the next few years, the group published the Provincial Golf Guides and completed the Cain’s Quest promotional materials.  This paved the way for the Sledworthy, which started out  as “Newfoundland and Labrador’s snowmobile journal.  That was 2005 and in the second season, Sledworthy finally became a gloss magazine.  The tech company failed to launch and got bogged down in the 2008 market meltdown and it was back-burnered ever since.

Andrew & John Goldsworthy

In the early days, Andrew’s passion was equally shared by Jonathan Simon.  Jonathan has to be credited with some of the work in the early years in bringing the magazine to a point of creditably.  Jonathan stayed with the magazine for seven years but he decided to move on for personal reasons.  However, his contribution never went unnoticed…even though we probably didn’t say it to him enough.

Since 2005, many client relationships have been started, nurtured and some have gone off the tracks, but that’s the business element of producing a magazine.  However, one relationship in particular needs to be mentioned.  The Callahan family of St. George’s (NL) have supported Sledworthy Magazine since day one….in fact, before day one.  Ron Callahan, the father of Dave, DJ and Claudette Callahan, the face of the business presently, was a supporter of the concept of Sledworthy even before the first edition hit the mail.  Ron encouraged Andrew from the beginning.  The Callahan’s operate Central Service Station (Central Service Racing), one of the oldest BRP dealerships in North America.  Even though Ron is no longer with us, we know he’s looking on with encouragement.

At present, Sledworthy Magazine is owned by Andrew Goldsworthy and Jamie Swyers.  Jamie is not as front and centre as Andrew, but behind the scenes, Jamie’s business experience has helped guide the evolution of the magazine and the digital platform that we’re proud to present now.

Finally, we can’t forget the Sledworthy contributors.  Since 2005, there have been tons.  Some are still sharing their stories and we’re sure you all have your favourite contributor.  To us, they all rock and without their continued content, we would not be celebrating this new digital platform.  We thank them all dearly and we try to do something for each of them….within reason of course.

But wait…we really need to thank our fans.  You have allowed us to transform from a broadsheet newsprint publication to a full gloss magazine and now, to a fully integrated digital platform that will continue to keep you coming back.  Thank-you.

So in a nutshell, when you think Sledworthy Magazine, you’re thinking “Atlantic Canada’s Snowmobile Magazine”.  The new Sledworthy digital platform will be the voice of the Atlantic Canadian snowmobile scene and so much more…hold tight, it’s gonna be a fun ride.