With the Winter Olympics
currently taking place in Sochi, Russia, Marge Seeholzer, owner of Beaver
Mountain Ski Resort, hopes the excitement over winter sports will bring larger
crowds to the resort’s annual boarder/skier cross Saturday.
“I think with the Olympics
going on, so many young people watch that and that gets them more excited for
it,” Seeholzer said. “So that’s a plus for us.”
On Thursday in Sochi, Olympians
participated in the men’s and women’s ski cross. Kristy Seeholzer,
daughter-in-law of Marge Seeholzer, said they hope the recent publicity for the
sport will make the event more popular this year
The event will take place on
Little Beaver’s Cotton Tail trail and will include berms, jumps, rollers and
glide sections. Travis Seeholzer, the son of Marge Seeholzer, was in charge of
building the course and worked on it the week leading up to the race.
The race is divided into
different age groups with a first and second place winner in each ski and
snowboard division. Riders will compete in heats of four people with the
fastest times advancing on to the next rounds.
Prizes for the winners will
be provided by the Beaver Mountain Ski Shop and, in past years, have included hats,
shirts and stickers.
The race was originally held
on the Gentle Ben trail but was recently moved to Cotton Tail according to
Marge Seeholzer. She said they moved the event to change things up for
participants.
“I think it’s more
accessible, easier to get to and then it’s spectator friendly,” Seeholzer said.
According to Marge Seeholzer
the event averages 80-90 participants.
“It’s a fun one for the
young people,” Marge Seeholzer said, “I think the college and high school aged
people really enjoy it.”
With four athletes on the
course at a time the races can be unpredictable. "It's something everyone
loves to watch," Kristy Seeholzer said. "It’s a fun race because it's
chaos."
Conditions for the race are
good according to Marge Seeholzer.
“Having new snow helps a
lot, it helps day to day,” she said. “Our conditions are about as good as they
can get right now.”
Registration for the race is
open to the public and costs $10. It will begin at 9 a.m. the day of the event.
Skiers will start heats at 10:30 a.m. and snowboarders will follow at 12:30
p.m. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent when
registering.
Madison Eves, Emily Duke,
Morgan Klinkowski, Sam Emmett, Alex Bennett and Justin Anderson contributed to
this report.
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