In terms of the Yellowknife Ski Club, the business of official on-snow activities is over for the season.
The club decided to finish things off with a fun event on April 15 called the Spring Duathlon, a modified biathlon-type of event with the traditional skiing as part of it but with a running component instead of shooting, like you would bee in biathlon.
Mike Argue was the organizer of the event and said it was a good way for the club to close things out.
“I'd say we had a good turnout considering this was our last snow event of the year,” he said.
There were four age categories from tots right on up to the open category, all with varying distances, but all having the same criteria. Each race would start with a ski on the main course, followed by a run on the outside of the course, followed by another ski to end it.
This year, though, there was a difference in the ski portion as an obstacle course was added, where skiers were forced to navigate around pylons, leap over a foam barrier and then duck under some limbo-style gates.
It didn't always work out well for some of the skiers as they either got caught on the foam barrier or knocked over one of the gates but Argue said it was all about seeing how agile the skiers were.
“They did something like that at the 2017 Canadian Championships for the team event,” he said. “It's just a fun way to see if the skiers can get through it and it's things that we do in the summer when we're training on roller skis.”
Everyone seemed to enjoy it, he added.
“We did it knowing it would be fun,” he said. “I think Tyson Green ended up getting caught in the barrier and dragged it for several metres before he could get it loose.”
The results from each of the races were not known as of press time.
With the snow racing done for the season, the focus for Argue, who also coaches the club's high performance squad, turns to the summer training season, which will get going in late May.
He said it gives the skiers a bit of time to recover from a busy winter season and focus on other things.
“It's Super Soccer time and track and field in Hay River is coming up,” he said. “We'll get back on the roller skis once the snow clears out.”