North Bay Mayor Al McDonald speaks at a press conference at Laurentian Ski Hill Wednesday morning, announcing the 2014 Ontario Ski Cross Championships./MARK PARE PHOTO
Sports tourism continues to grow in the City of North Bay.
The “fastest growing segment of tourism” according to Mayor Al McDonald announced another piece to the puzzle on Wednesday with the Ontario Ski Cross Championships, a first-time event with a potential for growth.
The North Bay Ski Racers Association and the Laurentian Ski Hill secured the rights to hold the event in the Gateway City this March 7-10, as well as events in 2015 and 2016.
“If you think of a dinner and you’re trying to sell 300 tickets, it’s easier to sell tables of 10 than it is individual tickets so sports tourism is actually dealing with local organizations that really are truly the ambassadors and champions of bringing people into our community,” said McDonald, who was quick to point out the efforts of North Bay Ski Racers Association President Clemens Eggart.
“He has secured this event for the next three years and they’re expecting 100 competitors with all the coaches. By Year 3, you’re talking 400 people so it gives you a good idea of how important sports tourism is to our community to draw people in.”
McDonald says they’re very fortunate to be one of very few cities to have a ski hill in the centre of town and it’s something they can cherish with all the busloads coming in to use the hill.
The event itself is a race downhill on a track that Eggart says consists of “bumps and jumps and banks” and the fun is to see who makes it down the track first.
“Sometimes racers hit each other, sometimes, they fall,” he said, “Sometimes, they’re going backwards and get up and keep on going. So the excitement is a little bit of racing and a little bit of contact.”
Kathy Wilcox, President of the Board of Directors says it’s a wonderful thing that North Bay can hold the event three times in a row.
“It means you can build some systems and some procedures into place and you know what you’re getting into,” she said.
“We’ve just come off a big Northern Ontario divisional race this past weekend with them and the ski hill has always worked quite closely with ski racers and they took the lead on this and obviously approached us because we’re the only game in town in terms of a ski hill so we’ve known about it for quite some time.”
She says heading into the season, that time has allowed preparation to take place, including making more snow but there are some features that still need to be put in.
“We hope to be completely ready for this but I’m sure every year will be a learning experience,” said Wilcox, “So each year we hope to get bigger and better.”
Eggart says Laurentian is an excellent facility for all age groups, one of the two reasons he mentioned the hill can hold a provincial championship. The other is the transportation system coming into the city.
“Until recently, Southern Ontario didn’t realize how excellent our four-lane highway is,” he said, “Furthermore, we’re holding the event in March and Southern Ontario, the weather can be very dicey, where as Northern Ontario, we often have snow still so it’s going to be a win-win for everybody.”
Eggart also went back in time to 1937 and the first all-Ontario alpine championship.
“I know one person that was skiing in those days, Tony Demarco, whose in his 90’s and he tells me that in 1937, you had to walk the hill, cost you $2.00 and you didn’t get very many runs,” he recalled, “(But) he says it got you quite fit so I can believe that and he’s still healthy so that’s quite a testament to it but that’s the last time a provincial championships was held in North Bay.”
He says depending on the amount of participants, championship divisions could start as low as U-8 and U-10 and will go up until the age of 18. Anybody can sign up and those who aren’t with a formal race club can sign a one-event waiver. The entry cost is $200 for four days.
“What’s good about this event this year is that we have two days that there is going to be a teaching component,” said Eggart, “Teaching everyone how to compete in ski cross.”
He says it’s a one-time deal and the remaining two years will be strictly the provincial championship competition.
Winning provincials will be as far as skiers can go this year. Eggart says Alpine Ontario has the mandate to decide where the winners compete afterwards. He says once the event is held, he’s sure they’ll be able to proceed with a decision.
For more information:
http://www.alpinecanada.org/ski-cross/ski-cross-101
http://skicanadamag.com/2012/10/03/columns/skiings-gladiators
More details on events are sure to come so be sure to check BayToday.ca as the date gets closer.
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