FAIRBANKS — The 26th annual Tesoro Arctic Man Ski and Sno-Go Classic is less than a week away, and race director Howie Thies said he’s excited for things to get under way in the HooDoo Mountains near Summit Lake.
The race is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, and Saturday is set up as the postpone date, in case weather prevents things from going as planned on Friday.
“We’ve got some extra snow in the last few days, six inches, I’d say,” Thies said. “The course should be in great shape. We may get more (today) and Monday, too.”
The race has about 40-45 teams signed up, and Thies still has openings. Anyone interested in signing up a team should call 456-2626 or contact Thies at arcticmn@gci.net.
“We’ll take more people up until Monday,” Thies said. “There are about 100 extra spots left. After that, it’s first come, first serve.”
Thies said teams are expected to arrive Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will be used as training days.
“The biggest things for these racers is that they come down and be safe,” Thies said. “With the fresh snow, there will be some slide areas, so people need to be careful with what they’re doing. The days for training help them get familiar with the conditions of what they’ll be working with.”
As always, there will be all sorts of activities accompanying the main event. There will be a Hillcross event right after the race as well as a jumping contest and drag races, among other things.
“There are all kinds of things to do to get involved in one way or another,” Thies said.
The main event is a 5 1/2 mile competition where skiers race 1 3/4 miles down one canyon, get pulled 2 1/2 miles up the next canyon behind a snowmachine going between 80 and 90 mph and slingshot into another downhill run of about a 1 3/4 miles to the finish line.
The fastest competitors will complete the entire course in a little more than 4 minutes.
Thies also said a lot of “big contenders” will be participating in this year’s race, including Olympian downhill skier Marco Sullivan.
“Two or three other Olympians are rumored to be coming, too,” Thies said, “but I haven’t seen the paperwork, so we can believe that when we see them.”
These big contenders have a lot to race hard for. The winner of the men’s ski race will go home with a guaranteed $26,000, and the men’s snowboard race winner with leave with $13,000. There’s a $6,000 guaranteed purse for both the women’s winning ski team and snowboard team if four teams sign up, Thies said.
“We’ve got two women’s ski teams right now,” he said. “We had three, but one couldn’t make it back in time for the race.”
Something new to the long-running race is the cell phone service that will be available compliments of AT&T.
“This is the first year with that type of communication,” Thies said. “It’s good for everybody, and we really appreciate AT&T for bringing the repeater in.”
Thies is excited for this year’s competition, again noting the weather is really making things look even better.
“I just think everyone should come down, have a good time, but be careful,” he said. “We don’t need anyone doing anything stupid.”
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