The second annual Skijoring event took place at the Smokin True Ranch in Clearwater on Feb. 16 with a good turnout (much larger than last year) of enthusiastic participants and spectators.
The Skijoring was hosted by the Wells Gray Riders Association, with Christine Westerveld organizing the event and did an outstanding job.
For those who are wondering, Skijoring started way back in the early 1900s and was an exhibition sport at the 1928 Olympics. Skijoring is a Norwegian word loosely translated as ‘ski driving’ and not only have horses been used to tow the skiers but also dogs, snowmobiles and cars. Skijoring reached its peak during the 1950’s and 60’s and was a featured event at places such as Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Calgary, Alberta. Since then the popularity seemed to wane, but in recent years Skijoring has been making a comeback, and now there are even substantial prize monies being offered at some events. It has also been recently proposed that Equine Skijoring be reintroduced at the 2026 or 2030 Winter Olympics.
While I was growing up I watched skijoring equine events, as well as skijoring behind Volkswagons. I also attended the Skijoring events at the Steamboat Carnival in the 1960’s. It was fun to see it again now that I live in the North Thompson Valley.
Last weekends skijoring at Smokin True Ranch featured prizes for a number of events, such as the longest jump, fastest slalom and best costume.
The winners of the costume event were Keliyah, dressed as a dragon riding Gunner the Princess and pulling skier Nicki dressed as a Knight in Shining Armor. The story being the dragon was stealing the princess with the knight in hot pursuit to rescue the princess. Other participants were Thing 1 (Candus) pulling Thing 2 (Jackson) and the Cat in the Hat (Kris). There was also Stephanie whose costume celebrated the Mexican Holiday of the Day of the Dead, and Kane dressed as a cow (which I thought was quite amusing with the whole cow/ horse idea). There were also skiing butterflies, a lady holding a Norwegian flag and dressed in a Dane of Norway sweater giving a nod to Norway being the birthplace of Skijoring, and three fellows named Mark, Marcus and Brent who were just having a great day.
In all it was a fun and exciting event, and I am already looking forward to next years event.
