THINKING OUTSIDE THE “RING”
March 16, 2023
Photographs courtesy of
Tara McKenzie Fotos & Paula Krugerud Photography
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ Happy St. Patrick's Day! ~
We've all heard,
“God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world.”
but what about,
"God invented skijoring to prove the Irish can drink whiskey, wear a kilt
and ski behind a horse all at the same time!"
We thank all of our Irish competitors
for joining in the fun!
An Irish newspaper is following one Irish couple on their journey.
Susan Oakes, rider
&
Barry O'Brian Lynch, skier
competed in Calgary at Skijordue
a few weekends ago and remarked in an interview
what a WONDERFUL time they had.
This was their second skijoring experience in Canada.
They returned as defending champions in the Sprint Division,
but ended up winning the Alpine Lounge Race instead!
"We had the best time ever.
Everyone is so supportive here and delighted to see us back. . ."
Excerpts of their remarkable story as told in the
Meath Chronicle can be found a wee bit later in this newsletter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ OUTSIDE THE RING ~
In the last newsletter
we spoke of a "record year".
Record Number of Events
Record Participation
Record Crowds &
Record Media
Today, we want to speak about how much
EVOLUTION
has occurred within skijoring in the past decade.
When Jody Manly decided to build a course with
jumps, gates and rings, he changed the sport.
Now, races are thinking "outside the ring",
and we think Jody would be proud.
Leadville went to a 3D for the first time ever,
and according to competitors, it was a popular decision.
Two sets of jumps were built, one for Saturday and one for Sunday,
but neither reached the 8 foot heights of past races.
No one complained.
That said,
Leadville still operated a Draw, taking Match team members
and scrambling them for a second run.
This encourages riders and skiers to mix and mingle more
and try out new strategies.
It also spices up the Calcutta!
Perhaps others will adopt this format in future races.
Leadville decided to run a Snowmobile Division in 2023
for any skiers that were left without an equine tow.
Again, this was a great idea.
Skiers need to practice, and the motorized form of skijoring
is making a comeback as you will see below.
Congratulations to Leadville
on a successful 75th Anniversary event!
Check out this video posted by Wrangler Network on Facebook
entitled
"Leadville Skijoring Event was one for the ages."
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3116931465273500&extid=SMS-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=1YhcI9R&ref=sharing
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Two weekends ago,
skijoring acheived another milestone:
the first skijoring race was held on a Native American Indian Reservation.
The Blackfeet Nation
made their event a roaring success.
This would not have been possible without the help of many volunteers
as well as
Scott Ping and Stan Olsen,
who were honored as Warriors of the Blackfeet Nation due to their contributions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ AN EXTENDED SEASON ~
The official FINAL skijoring race
in North America
will be held in
Bondurant, Wyoming
March 18th & 19th
on The Little Jennie Ranch.
This area is known for its abundance of snow,
and this weekend, it is also the abundance of sunshine
that will make this event special.
Entries are limited to 100 teams, so be sure to
call 330-858-7278 (Faith Hamlin) to register by phone or
go to the online registration form below by Friday.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd426D689yro2JHenBtK-67f4uHsVd_JvFLgi0ihrfab5Pq5g/viewform
Divisions will be Open, Sport, Novice, Snowboard, Kids & Century.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ THE BROADER PICTURE ~
Now let's look at the broader picture,
and CELEBRATE just how far skijoring has come!
Course Design
Courses now have rollers, banked turns and gap jumps.
Courses are no longer limited to straight or "U" or "J" shaped,
they have gentler curves and can even be serpentine.
Divisions
Divisions aren't limited to Open, Sport and Novice.
Races are experimenting with 2D and 3D,
incorporating Snowboard Divisions
and more and more are offering Switch-A-Roo
in which the riders and skiers change places on Day 1 and Day 2
showing the versatility of our athletes.
Above and Beyond
Canada is offering Sprints and Relays.
Many races are including Long Jumps and Free Style
like Skijoring Utah and Canterbury Park.
Some are racing teams in tandem down the track
at Canterbury Park and in Alberta, Canada.
Venues
Venues were once limited to streets, old airstrips or fairgrounds.
Now courses are being built on golf courses, race tracks, polo grounds and private ranches
which has allowed the course designs to expand.
Style Points
Races are encouraging competitors and spectators
to dress up "skijor" style and win awards.
Events have logos and websites
which speak to the unique personality of each race venue.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ RING SIDE ACTIVITIES ~
The other thing that has changed is that a skijoring event
is no longer limited to skijoring.
Spectators can now enjoy a variety of other fun activities,
whether participatory for spectators or not.
The key is that they are offered on site, not scattered for miles around town
as part of a broader winter carnival.
One of the most fun examples is
Cowboy Curling
As far as we can tell, it is our friends up north
in Blairmore, Alberta, Canada
that put this on the skijoring event map.
What is cowboy curling?
Well, put a rider on a horse and put a person in an inner tube.
Come up with five teams.
Attach a rope to the saddle or horn and hand the other end it to the person in the tube.
Giddy up and go. Gain speed. Aim your tuber in a strategic direction.
At the traffic cone, the rider veers off to the side as his tuber lets go.
The object is for the person in the tube to gain enough
momentum and speed to knock others
out of the way in an attempt to get
closest to the central mark painted in the snow.
This video will explain it best.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8g5fz4
Cowboy Curling
events expanded to Skijoring Utah and Topsham, Maine this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Alpine Lounge Racing
Once again, the Canadians get the credit.
At the Skijordue event in Calgary,
this one-of-a-kind competition is held involving teams of horses
and yep, you guessed it, couches on skis on which two people sit while being pulled.
One can only guess how much fun these teams have finding and constructing
their "alpine lounge" rigs.
Similar to traditional "cardboard box" sledding races,
a tradition at the Pinedale Winter Carnival,
this takes it to
a WHOLE NEW LEVEL! ! !
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Barstool Racing
Sundance, Wyoming
made barstool racing famous years ago,
and now others have followed suit.
Folks in Martin City, Montana
near Kalispell in the Flathead Lake Region
take barstool racing very seriously.
Here is a hilarious excerpt from the article below:
Known for his signature leaned back style on the barstool, Murray, who is in his 60s, decided to call it a career after the last time he beat Jamie “North Dakota” Ordahl during the competition.
Murray is known for consuming two Bloody Marys on race day, and the Beacon previously reported him to be firm on that number. Ordahl said he tried to tempt him atop the Sugar Hill racecourse with a shot once, and that “he absolutely refused.”
The North Dakotan said “If you’re sober, you’re going to get hurt,” going into a barstool ski race. (Paugh, who also races, said “You can’t compete in this sport if you’re inebriated. You’ve got to be on your game.”)
Asked if his fellow North Dakotans would understand bar stool racing, Ordahl was confident they would. “We learn to snowboard with a ski rope behind the car,” he said. “We get plenty of snow out here, too.”
No wonder bar stool racing and skijoring have found each other!
To read the full article and see some fun photos click below:
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2022/02/10/cabin-fever-days-is-back-and-so-is-a-storied-barstool-racer/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sleds, Motorcycles and Automobiles
Big Sky Skijoring
invited an X Games Snowmobiler,
Willie Elam,
to do tricks with pyrotechnics to further enhance the scene.
When Elam's sled was damaged after performing a jump on Saturday,
Mike Poirier took up the challenge on Sunday
lapping the track ten times.
Jeremy Ueland, program director for the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation, organized the snowmobile exposition.
“People were going crazy about it. It’s something we don’t [normally] see,” he said. “Those guys are interested. They want to come back and be part of it next year.”
He worked with Keith Sayers of Butte to set up the show, costing roughly $10,000 which was covered by sponsors including GoPro, Ace Hardware, Earth Elements, Mountain Hot Tub and Lone Mountain Land Company.
“It wasn’t a free event,” he pointed out. “They’re paid athletes.”
To read the full article, click below:
https://www.explorebigsky.com/big-sky-skijoring-continues-to-thrive/47695
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ MOTO-SKIJORING ~
Skijoring and motorized vehicles,
whether sleds, motorcycles or automobiles,
is not an uncommon mix.
Many of you may not realize that skijoring behind
motorized vehicles has been a part
of skijoring history since the 1950s!
Skijor International
owns numerous vintage photographs and several awards,
such "badges" (similar to our buckles) and pins,
from races held in Austria, Latvia and Russia.
Red Bull used to sponsor a modern moto-skijoring event
in the highest town in Latvia up until 2018
called Twitch 'n' Ride.
The skijoring event in Zakopane (behind horses) had to be cancelled
due to a warming trend which led to rain
in the region instead of snow.
In a Facebook post, the organizers joked about next year's event
being held as a Moto-skijoring event instead,
it is worth watching the video below.
https://www.facebook.com/endurodka/videos/6254203627958391
And if this piques your interest,
check out this video on Red Bull's Facebook page.
Talk about INSANE!
https://www.facebook.com/RedBullMotorsports/videos/1660567104006170/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ IN THE NEWS ~
Tara McKenzie
Thank you, Tara, for allowing us to feature your photographs
in this newsletter.
You captured the excitement and style of Skijordue
so VERY well!
To view Tara's work click below:
https://taramckenziefotos.zenfolio.com/
Congratulations to
Mark LaRowe
who was awarded
Montana Photographer of the Year
To view Mark's skijoring photographs and many more
click below:
https://marklarowe.photoshelter.com/index
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
More Girl Power
"No matter how far you look, you won't find many high school girls doing this!",
the reporter begins.
Sisters Fiona and Phoebe Alverson
got to tell their story during the Red Lodge Skijoring event.
"Phoebe (15) and her older sister Fiona (17) first participated in Ski-Joring when they were less than ten years old. In their early days, they found themselves competing exclusively with adults.
'They’ve routinely been in the top ten on a lot of these events,' Phoebe and Fiona's father Dennis Alverson said.
'They’ve developed this confidence where I don’t think I could’ve given them
that confidence anywhere else or in any other atmosphere.'
And while their age is astonishing, that isn't the only characteristic about them that sticks out. The Alverson sisters are one of the few sibling duos that enter these events."
To read the full article from Q2 News in Billings
click below:
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/livingston-sisters-excelling-at-unique-sport-of-ski-joring
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Skijoring Canadians
attracted Swiss media.
The article begins:
"Skijoring is the latest trend sport in North America.
In this sport, originally from Scandinavia, horses pull skiers through the snow.
At an event in Canada, however, there was also a race on sofas.
This even attracted international participants."
Sam Mitchell of Skijor Canada
does a fantastic job representing the sport
and the story and interview was picked up by USA Today!
Check it out!
https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/have-you-seen/video/2023/03/09/skijor-games-mixing-skiing-equestrian-and-furniture-canada/11430880002/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Canterbury Park
Ted Slathar's event near Minneapolis continues to attract
talented photographers and videographers.
Check out this 55-second, high energy, trick filled,
"trouble gets me high"
video from Jess Trenn Photo!
Canterbury is always raising the bar.
https://jesstrennphoto.pixieset.com/skijoring2023/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Tractor Guy from Ireland
As mentioned above, two friends from Ireland
made skijoring history in Calgary, and their story is remarkable!
"Barry (43) was dubbed the 'Tractor guy' by competitors who marvelled at how the duo had trained without any snow
with a tractor pulling Barry in a sledge along a roll of carpet.
This time, their no snow training technique consisted of Susan on horseback pulling Barry along on skis tied to skateboards.
The win was even more impressive considering that accomplished horsewoman Susan (39) was told by doctors in 2005 that she'd only have two years left of being able to ride a horse due to an autoimmune disease
and that she made a remarkable recovery after a fall from a horse in 2016 left her with an acquired brain injury."
They entered the competition after Susan, who holds a Guinness world record for the highest jump side saddle at six foot, eight inches, met Skijor event organiser Sam Mitchell while competing in Canada
Sam then visited Ireland where she told Susan and Barry about Skijor while on a night out in their local pub in Navan, Co. Meath and the two friends jumped at the chance to take part.
Speaking from Calgary after the festival Susan said:
"We had the best time ever. We took part in everything and the lounge race was unbelievable.
It's very hard to describe the kickback from the snow when you are being pulled over it so fast but it's like being bombarded by hailstones in your face multiplied by ten. Very sore but so much fun."
The lounge race has to consist of a two seater sofa, a coffee table and a lamp. We sat on the sofa, being pulled by two riders on two horses and all the furniture had to be intact at the end of the race."
To read the full story, click below:
https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2023/02/27/friends-win-another-skijor-title-in-canada/
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ RESULTS ~
Congratulations to everyone who entered each division.
We LOVE seeing new names on the rosters
and
we hope you keep coming back for more skijoring fun!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Leadville Skijoring 75th Annual
Overall Rider: Savannah McCarthy
Overall Skier: Tug Birk
Saturday
1D
1st: Jeff Dahl on Cash with Tug Birk 16.51
2nd: Jed Moore on Zombie with Kevin Wilder 16.66
3rd: Lauren Urista on Tarzan with Sherwood Smith 17.89
2D
1st: Janelle Urista on Wicked Willa with Darrin Anderson 18.66
2nd: TJ Simmons on Turbo with Jason Decker 18.68
3rd: Lauren Urista on Stevie with David Strickbine 18.69
3D
1st: Richard Raymer on Ringo with Craig Kopasz 20.55
2nd: Katie Coker on Echo with Ryan McNeil 21.12
3rd: Freddie Montez on Classy with AJ Pestello 21.57
Sunday
1D
1st: Savannah McCarthy on Money with Cody Ehlenfeld 15.71
2nd: Jed Moore on Zombie with Kevin Wilder 16.33
3rd: Michael Miller on Jackie B with Harry Maniloff 16.80
2D
1st: Lauren Urista on Stevie with Jerry Kissell 17.73
2nd: Noah Gregory on Dev Guru with Josh King 17.89
3rd: Katie Coker on Echo with Josh King 18.04
3D
1st: Lisa Weiss on Peaches with Jed Moore 19.82
2nd: Al Mikkelsen on Frank with Joey Lane 20.09
3rd: Grace Kennedy on Takoda with Craig Kopasz 20.16
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Blackfeet Nation Skijoring
Open: Team Top Hand
Shawn Jenkins and Nick Bentley
Sport: Team Last Minute
Kristen Macasek and Oliver Van Everen
Novice: Team Little Girl
Audrey Williams and Bryson Threat
Top Hand Clothing Company
provided awards:
a horse blanket for the rider
and a blanket for the skier.
While the majority of participants
came from the Blackfeet Nation Reservation,
Montana residents Kelly McComb, Jen Butler, David Rizzolo,
Audrey Williams also entered the event
while other competitors came from Alberta, Canada.
Indian Relay Teams
whose riders normally ride bareback
competed from
The Blackfeet Nation
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Red Lodge
(Combined Times)
Open
1st: Josh Abbott on Elvis with Colin Cook 34.99
2nd: Josh Abbott on Elvis with Toby McIntosh 35.3
3rd: Richard Weber on Frank and Beans with Colin Cook 35.7
Sport
1st: Arley Douglas on Dragon with Oliver Van Everen 36.38
2nd: Monica Plecker on Z with Oliver Van Everen 36.52
3rd: Melissa Ostrander on Itchy with Tara Hines 37.39
Novice
1st: Ila Erickson on Bugs with Bryson Theta 39.53
2nd: Tristram Hokeson on No Name with Calen Carron 40.29
3rd: Hannah Orth on Fish with Jack Hitchcock 40.65
Switch-A-Roo
1st: Tara Hines and Colin Cook on Frenchie 38.5
2nd: Nick Bentley and Foster Kennedy on Fiona 39.29
3rd: Josh Morrison and Hedy Seeber on Jade 45.05
Snowboard
1st: Jennifer Butler on Junior with Kalei Pitcher 44.55
2nd: Monica Plecker on Z with Kalei Pitcher 45.25
3rd: Rosie Rogers on Billie the Kid with Elli Pospischil 47.73
PeeWee
1st: Josey Woodring on Jaxon with Bryson Miller 69.95
2nd: Josey Woodring on Jaxon with Hayden Miller 78.04
3rd: Josey Woodring on Jaxon with Wyatt Woodring 103.42
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Skijoring for MS in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
(Combined Times)
Circuit
1st: Leslie's Angels
Josh Leslie on Bobby with Darcy Pashak 26.45
2nd: The Talisman
Tim Hiller on Edger with Seth Hiller 28.46
3rd: Wheelin' & Dealin'
Jeff Hallwach on Dually with Sam Wheeler 28.80
Big Air / Freestyle
1st: Team Kinosoo
Scott McKay on Dunny with Dawson Walker 10.0
2nd: Lucky Lessards
Hailey Lobe on Vegas with Ethan Lessard 9.5
3rd: Hold Your Horses
Griffin Purdy on Copper with Alex Young 9.0
Sprint
1st: Lucky Lessards
Hailey Lobe on Vegas with Ethan Lessard 6.91 & 6.82
2nd: FULL Withdrawal
Chase Soderburg on Cissco with Dustin Collette 6.37 & 7.76
3rd: Team UC
Kelly Hutchings on Weller with Norene Robinson 7.25
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Pole & Spur
Division A:
Super Fast - Ryan Linderman & Sam Edge
Damn Fast - Kamilia Grabinski & Gongshow Prescott
3rd - Sam Edge & Ryan Linderman
Division B:
Darn Fast - Logan Presley & Ian Scott
Fast Enough - Cindy Sleeman & Elyse Jensen
3rd - Jonathon Jones & Shelby Hammond
Novice:
Just Enough - Jessica Horne & Tinnany Hiller
2nd - Kamilia Grabinski & Rebecca McIntyre
Cowboy Curling
Miss Rodeo Canada
was the big winner of the Cowboy Curling yesterday, coming in closest to the pin
with her Team Oldman River Brewing Ltd. and Ryan Linderman.
For complete results go to
SkijorUSA's Facebook Page
where links from each event's results were shared.
https://www.facebook.com/skijorusa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
JOR ON!
Loren Zhimanskova,
President, Skijor USA, Inc. & Skijor International, LLC