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Mid-West Group of Companies has partnered with long-standing, Saskatoon-based firm Sutton Financial Planning & Benefits to acquire a 10,000 square foot office building located at 143 Wheeler Street in Saskatoon. This property is located adjacent to Silverwood Golf Course and just off of the new Chief Mistawasis Bridge.

The building will be renovated and customized to become the new home of Sutton, who will be relocating in the fall of 2023 from its current Quebec Avenue location in Saskatoon.

Mid-West’s Trevor Jacek competed at the 2023 World Master’s Athletics (Track & Field) Indoor World Championships in Torun, Poland from March 25 – April 1, 2023. Trevor, who is the reigning Canadian champion in the 800m (m40-44 age category), represented team Canada in the 400m, 800m and 1500m events.

At the World Championships, he broke his own Saskatchewan records in the 400m (56.11) and 800m (2:06.20) and ran a personal best in the 1500m of 4.25.02, qualifying for the World Final and finishing 10^th overall.

The WMA Championships are recognized by World Athletics as the pinnacle event for masters-aged (35+) competitors. This year’s world championships featured more than 4,200 athletes from 88 countries across the globe.

Mid-West CFO Trevor Jacek was elected to the board of directors for The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce during its March 2023 board elections.

Led by CEO Jason Aebig, the Chamber is made up of 1,500+ Saskatoon businesses and organizations, representing a powerful network of community-minded businesses, organizations and leaders who want the best for their city.

Directors will be officially sworn in at the Chamber’s 116th Annual General Meeting on May 11, 2023.

Learn more at saskatoonchamber.com or follow us on all social media using the handle @TheChamberYXE.

Mid-West’s Trevor Jacek competed at the Canadian Masters National Track & Field Championships in Toronto, Ontario on February 24-25, 2023.

Trevor had a successful weekend, winning the National Championship in the 800m event in the 40-44 year old division. His time of 2:06.62 broke the Saskatchewan record he had previously set in New York in 2022. On top of the 800m event win, he won silver in the 400m and was part of a 4x800m relay team that set a new Canadian record, running the race in 8:44.69, eclipsing the previous national record of 8:45.59.

Trevor will be competing at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Torun, Poland March 25 to April 1, 2023 whereby he will be representing Team Canada against the best amateur athletes in his age group from across the world.

At a ceremony at TCU Place on January 24, 2023, Mid-West founder and CEO, Ken Achs, was recognized by the Province of Saskatchewan with the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.

The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal was created in celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II marking the 70th anniversary of Her Accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada. Commemorative medals were awarded by the Government of Saskatchewan recognizing outstanding Saskatchewanians of all ages and from all walks of life, who have built and continue to build a strong, vibrant society and province through their service, contributions and achievements.

The medal was presented to Ken by His Honour the Honourable Russ Mirasty, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan. Ken was honoured alongside numerous other Saskatoon businesspeople, community leaders and volunteers.

Mid-West’s Trevor Jacek has returned home from the 2022 World Master’s Athletics (Track & Field) World Championships  in Tampere, Finland.

The WMA Championships are recognized by World Athletics  as the pinnacle event for masters-aged (35+) competitors.  This year’s world championships featured more than 4600 athletes from 90 countries across the globe.

Trevor represented team Canada in the m40-44 age category in the 400m, 800m and 1500m events, and his first world championship experience culminated in qualifying for the 16-man world final in the 1500m race where he ran a personal best 4m30s and finished as the 13^th fastest in the world in his age group. Trevor narrowly missed the 12-man final round in the in the 800m distance, finishing  in 2m09s, just 4/10^ths of a second off the cut-off to advance.

Trevor’s final competition of the 2022 outdoor season will be the Canadian Masters National Championships at the end of July.

On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame announced its list of inductees for 2022.

Mid-West’s Ken Achs was among the list of honorees to be inducted, as a Builder in the Sport of Drag Racing, for his contributions to the sport. Other 2022 inductees are Brian Shalovelo (softball), Mark Loehndorf (softball, football, wrestling), David Wassill (water skiing), Ron Friesen (diving), Tim Kroeker (baseball), Michael Linklater (basketball), Natalie Lukiw (volleyball), Cory Mantyka (football) as well as the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ 2005 track and field teams and the Saskatoon Hilltops as the sports organization of the year.

The 2022 Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in Saskatoon on November 5^th.

Ken Achs- Builder in the Sport of Drag Racing

As a builder in the sport of drag racing, Ken’s Achs’ interest in that sport began as a teenager in Saskatoon in the late 1950s with his membership in the Draggins Rod and Custom Club. By the 1960s he was enmeshed in the sport of drag racing in Alberta at a time when hitting the 200 mile-per-hour mark in the quarter-mile was just being broken. He first raced a modified 1940 Ford and then built and raced a C/gas dragster in the mid-1960s, the latter being the first car to go down Southwinds Dragway in Saskatoon (now Saskatchewan International Raceway, which time would eventually crown as the oldest and longest running dragstrip in Western Canada.

In 1967 Ken raised the bar again by racing the first Top Fuel dragster in Saskatoon. At a time when danger in the sport of drag racing was not for the faint of heart, his quest for speed and his skilled driving resulted in Ken piloting his nitromethane-fueled Top Fuel dragster to an elite class, becoming one of the first dragsters to go over 200 mph in Canada.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ken was the only driver in Canada to hold both a Top Fuel and Funny Car licenses issued by the California-based NHRA, the premier sanctioning body in competitive drag racing in the world. Ken was a crowd-favorite when he raced in Saskatoon and inspired fellow automotive enthusiasts to become drag racers themselves.

Ken also garnered much success when he travelled along the western-coast of the United States to the likes of Seattle, Washington and Long Beach, California to race against and become life-long friends with the very best Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers in the world.

In recognition of his outstanding talent in the sport, Ken was inducted to the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in Toronto as a driver in 2002 where his fully restored Top Fuel dragster was on permanent display until it was loaned for exhibit at the newly formed Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Montréal when Ken was inducted in 2016.

Ken’s dedication to drag racing and the automotive industry, led to him owning and operating Saskatoon’s first speed shop on Broadway during the 1960s and 70s.

Ken’s keen competitive spirit and success in the sport of drag racing translated well not only to his automotive related business interests which continue as an important part of his business, but to his entire Mid-West Group, operating for more than 60 years, which focuses primarily on real estate development and leasing in Canada and the United States, where he has been recognized with numerous awards and tributes for outstanding performance and leadership in business. Ken credits life lessons learned through sports and drag racing at the beginning of his business career for his overall achievements.

Mid-West CFO Trevor Jacek was appointed on June 27, 2022, by the City of Saskatoon council, to the board of directors for Saskatchewan Place Association Inc., which operates Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre.

SaskTel Centre, a 15,000 seat arena, is home to the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades hockey team, NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse team, the CEBL’s Saskatchewan Rattlers basketball team and is the premier venue for concerts and special events in the province of Saskatchewan such as the World Junior Hockey Championships, The Brier, the CHL Memorial Cup and Juno Awards.

Jacek was appointed along with Coldwell Banker owner Randy Singler and will join existing directors Paul Jaspar, Bryan McCrea, Russel Marcoux, Darla Deguire, Tribal Chief Mark Arcand, Ashfaque Ahmed, Anne Iwanchuk and City of Saskatoon Councilors Randy Donauer and Troy Davies.

Mid-West Development has begun construction on its new retail project location on Saskatoon’s main retail corridor of 8th Street, at the intersection of Grosvenor Avenue.

The project boasts 6500 sf of premium, high ceiling space with large storefront windows as well as a completely new storefront, showroom and office for the existing OK Tire store – which was the first building ever construction by Mid-West in the late 1960’s.

Mid-West’s own Trevor Jacek recently competed at the USA Track & Field National Masters Championships, held at the legendary Armory in New York, New York, March 18-22, 2022.

Competing as a non-American guest entrant and using the opportunity to race against some of the fastest men in his age group in America as well as elite neighboring athletes from the US Virgin Islands, Venezuela, and Bermuda, Trevor competed in the 800 meter, 400 meter, and 1-mile events. He returned home as the all-time Saskatchewan record holder in the 40-44 year old age category in all three events.

This was Trevor’s last competition after a busy indoor season, competing against university-aged athletes at a dozen meets across the Canadian Prairies.

Trevor’s planned 2022 outdoor season culminates at the 2022 World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland in late June and early July, whereby he will be representing Team Canada against the best amateur athletes in his age group from across the world.