The Cold Lake Alpine Ski Society is busy preparing to host their first race in over five years: the 2016 Kinosoo Blizzard Blast.
As many as 250 young ski racers will descend on Kinosoo Ridge Snow Resort from Jan. 30 to 31, 2016 for the alpine ski race.
“We've been racing in the Cold Lake area now going on 15 years; the club was formed in 2003. We do a lot of traveling to races in the Alberta Alpine North Zone and that includes Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Jasper,” explained Chris Holoboff, president of the local society.
Holoboff added, “It's just nice for the kids to be able to race on their home hill and for us to showcase what we have in the Cold Lake and Bonnyville region. We've got such a great facility.”
The ski race was on Cold Lake City Council's agenda during their Dec. 8 meeting, after receiving a request for sponsorship from the society for the city to become the Double Black Diamond Sponsor for the event. At a cost of $2,500, the city's sponsorship, should it be approved, would go towards providing welcome bags to racers and their families.
There will be an entry fee for racers, Holoboff said the average is usually around $40 per race, but that money will go towards the cost of lift tickets and items associated with the race itself.
“Then there's the extras; if you want to give the kids a little gift, we like to give out door prizes to volunteers and the kids, there's all sorts of little peripherals. There's equipment costs, obviously. We've got a good deal of equipment that our club owns and that the hill has but we need a little bit more to pull this off. Then bringing in senior officials for the race – we have to bring in a technical delegate from Alberta Alpine as part of the officiating crew.”
The two-day 2016 Kinosoo Blizzard Blast will bring in racers from the Nancy Greene Ski League, which is made up of kids aged five to 11-years-old. Unlike Cold Lake's 2010 Alberta Winter games where there was a set number of skiers, Holoboff said they won't know the final number of attendees until registration closes a week prior to the event.
Regardless, he believes hosting the race will benefit Kinosoo Ridge and the area.
“We're just really excited about the whole event, we're looking forward to showcasing the communities and Kinosoo Ridge, it's a real gem. Having traveled to a lot of the other hills, a lot of people I don't think understand what a great facility we have here.”
City councillors echoed his sentiment during the meeting, expressing their approval for the event.
“It's a great opportunity to show off our area to a population that wouldn't travel to the west side of the province more than the east,” said Coun. Chris Vining.
Coun. Kelvin Plain added, “You look at the economic spin-offs with all of the people using the hotels and the restaurants and it's huge economic development for the area.”
The Cold Lake Alpine Ski Society has around 30 to 50 racers this season. Hosting an event of this size means everyone will be pitching in, with approximately one volunteer needed for every three or four racers. Confident his team can pull it off, ultimately Holoboff would like to see this become an annual event alternating locations with Fort McMurray each year.
City council approved their request to be a Double Black Diamond sponsor for the alpine ski race in the amount of $2,500.
As the race draws closer, the Cold Lake Alpine Ski Society is actively looking for additional sponsors for the weekend to cover their expenses. For more information on how to support the event, contact Christine McWillis at 780-813-8755.
