• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 02 / 13 / 2011

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Staff Writer. Posted: 02/12/2011 1:00 AM |Free Press Travel Editor John Sullivan (left) and Ixtapa Travel owner Corwin Kostenchuk congratulate Great Winter Escape Contest winners Larry and Audrey McCrady, with a few of nearly 45,000 reader entries.

Free Press Travel Editor John Sullivan (left) and Ixtapa Travel owner Corwin Kostenchuk congratulate Great Winter Escape Contest winners Larry and Audrey McCrady, with a few of nearly 45,000 reader entries.

TWO tickets to a tropical paradise, please: Larry and Audrey McCrady are headed to the Caribbean after winning the Free Press Great Winter Escape Contest.

And talk about a needle in a haystack: the Morris, Mb. couple's single ballot, clipped from the newspaper, was plucked at random from a landslide of nearly 45,000 entries, of which 80 per cent were submitted online.

"You enter and you don't expect to win," Audrey beamed during a visit to the Free Press newsroom to accept the prize. "You just think, 'Oh, that would be really nice,' and you dream for a few seconds."

Now, they can dream for seven days in early March, when they'll hop a Transat Vacations flight for an all-inclusive getaway to the 41/2-star Barceló Marina Palace resort in Varadero, Cuba, a prize worth about $4,000.

The McCradys had a choice of five Barceló resort destinations -- two each in Cuba and Mexico, and one in Dominican Republic -- but had little hesitation in choosing Varadero, with its 20 kilometres of white beaches and close proximity to Havana.

History buffs both, Larry, a former schools superintendent Audrey, a librarian, toured Europe several times in earlier days before their retirement. But this trip will mark the first time the couple have travelled to the tropics.

For the McCradys, there are two extra bonuses to their big win. First, Larry just had hip surgery in early January, and the warm Cuban sun and surf should do wonders for his recovery.

And, as Free Press subscribers, the couple also received a cheque for $200 in spending money from contest sponsor Ixtapa Travel.

It may be all the cash they'll need. They'll stay in a Junior Suite at the 528-room Barceló Marina Palace with a long list of luxury Prestige Class inclusions offered through Transat Holidays.

When Larry returned the call from Free Press Travel Editor John Sullivan on Wednesday, they could barely believe their luck. As lifelong Free Press subscribers, the couple has entered many contests and won a few bits and bobs -- but the trip takes the cake, they said.

In fact, the couple hopped in a car to drive to the Free Press office building so fast, they didn't even have time to tell their two sons, daughter-in-laws and four grandchildren about the win.

"It just sort of blew us away," Larry said. "Soup even tasted better at lunch!" They weren't the only ones happy about the news. While the Free Press has partnered with Signature Vacations on the Great Winter Escape Contest for a number of years, that supplier's merger with Sunwing Vacations last year ended its sponsorship. It was largely through the efforts of Ixtapa Travel owner Corwin Kostenchuk that a new partnership was struck with Transat Vacations and Barceló Resorts.

Despite the later-than-normal January contest start, Kostenchuk said he's stunned by the number of entries from Free Press readers over the five-week contest and thrilled for the McCradys.

"I'm ecstatic," Kostenchuk said. "It's great, especially since they've never been there before." Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 12, 2011 E1

Source:www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/morris-couple-wins-great-winter-escape-116055834.html