Hundreds of people took part in the P.A. Nordic Ski Club's Classic Loppet last year. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Hitting the trails

Nordic Ski Club to replace this year’s Loppet with inclusive, virtual Ski Challenge

Jan 28, 2021 | 5:00 PM

The Prince Albert Nordic Ski Club may not be able to crowd their trails for their annual loppet this year for obvious reasons, but they have come up with a creative alternative.

The 2021 Ski Challenge is an eight-day, virtual skiing event running from Feb. 14-21. Participants will get points for each lap they complete—three points each for laps on the West Trail, CN Loop, and East Poplar Trail, four points for River Trail laps complete, and six points each for Tower Trail and Jackrabbit Trail laps.

Skiers will then be sorted into groups based on their points, 0-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80, and 80-100. Skiers in each group will be eligible for prize draws, with each group having different prizes available to win.

“As a club, you want to keep your members engaged and you want to create fun things. Whether it’s lessons, it’s events, it’s something they can get excited about and get them active on the trails,” said Mike Horn, the Prince Albert Nordic Ski Club president. “We felt it was really important to do something and I think it’s going to be well received.”

There isn’t a fee to enter the challenge, but donations will be accepted. Only Prince Albert Nordic Ski Club members can join, but Horn doesn’t think that is going to be much of an obstacle to get people to participate.

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In a year where many local sports have been shut down or severely hampered, Horn said the club has an all-time high of 631 members this year, 200 members better than their next best year in quite a while.

With all those new members in mind, Horn wanted to make sure the Ski Challenge would be accessible to everybody. He said the club wanted to veer away from a timed, competitive event and something everybody could participate in. That’s where the points system comes in.

“Those new members, I’m not sure how engaged they’d be in something where you have to submit your time, because then it’s a race,” Horn said. “We want to make it so it’s all-inclusive for people.”

Horn said that the sport of cross-country skiing has started to see an increase in the last three years, and that has only grown even more during the pandemic. With people looking for things to do to stay active, they’ve been flocking to outdoor sports.

“I think anything outdoors, ice fishing and snowmobiling and tobogganing, skiing and snowshoeing, all those outdoor communities have seen a huge increase in demand,” Horn said. “I think people are doing these things with their families, with their friends, and it’s created a little more family time and less hustle and bustle.”

It’s been a lot of extra work on the club’s volunteer core, and on their equipment as the trails have required more grooming since they’re being used a lot more.

“But we’re happy to do it. We’re happy to see people get up there and use the trails and really having just an amazing time. With Mother Nature up until the last three days has been very cooperative, so it’s been kind of the perfect storm to get outside—lots of snow and mild temperatures. We’ve been fortunate, for sure.”

Click here for more details on the 2021 Ski Challenge.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW