Ready to race, Jasper?

The Marmot Challenge Series, the long-running four-race league competition, is ready to kick off another year of thrills and spills on the slopes of the local ski hill.

The first of the monthly races is scheduled for Wednesday (January 18) at 11 a.m. said Dave Honeyman, the new Director at Marmot’s Snow Sports School.

Racers get together in teams of five with the only pre-requisite for entry being that at least one member of the opposite sex is part of each team. The cost to enter the competition is a paltry $75.

Only adults can race the giant slalom courses that Honeyman and his cohorts will set. The venue for Wednesday’s first run is Porteous Way, a trail that Honeyman describes as a blue run.

“You should be at an intermediate level,” he said for the benefit of those considering entering. 

The event is the oldest adult recreational race series in Western Canada, according to Honeyman, who remembers the race from his earliest days as a Marmot employee some 23 years ago.

“We started it when I was here before and it’s continued on,” he said. “My team won the very first one and I still have the cup.”

Trophies will be awarded to the top three teams this year but perhaps the highlight of the race event is the apres ski bash hosted by the De’d Dog pub. 

“It is an after-race party, in true Jasper style,” said Honeyman.

With Kokanee Beer coming on stream as the presenting sponsor of the event this year, Honeyman has high hopes that the series will continue to flourish and grow, perhaps even incorporating a regional element so that race teams from Lake Louise, Sunshine and other area hills could visit Marmot for a showdown on the slopes.