A big hit during the last two Canmore Winter Carnivals, the snow track on Main Street will make a return, says event manager Ric Proctor.
“Two years ago, there was a World Cup cross-country race, and the Downtown Business Association, along with the Canmore Nordic Centre, thought to do something really special to welcome the World Cup,” said Proctor. “They came up with the idea of putting this snow track on Main Street and it was a smashing success.
“Last year, we had the Haywood Canadian National Cross-country Championships, and the Downtown Business Association and the Best Of Canmore accommodation group decided to do it again, to show our Canadian athletes we’re really proud to have the championships here.”
In both years having the snow track was a big success, said Proctor, and so it’ll be coming back to assist with another international event.
“This year we’re pleased the Canmore Nordic Centre is going to host two International Biathlon Union cup races,” he said. “They’ve never held those races outside of Europe before, so for Canmore to get those races is big news.”
The carnival will take place Feb. 10-20, and will involve a wide range of activities and over 40 different partners to help make the event happen.
“We have some really awesome contributions by people like Trail Sports, who provide a free ski loan program; the Fast and Female program, run by Chandra Crawford, and their whole mandate is empowerment of youth through sports; local schools will be doing programming on the track and the Rocky Mountain Adaptive Sports Centre will do demonstrations to show people what it’s like to participate with the challenge of a disability,” said Proctor, to name a few.
“We also have a number of traditional winter carnival events, like the kid and mutt races, the mayor’s challenge and media challenge, the opening ceremony and town party and snow sculpting and just a very wide range of activities,” he added. “The great thing from a participant point of view is that 95 per cent of these activities are free, which is something we’re really proud of, and is only made possible through all our different partners.”
Approximately 250 international athletes, from 15 to 20 countries, will attend the biathlon events, he explained.
At this point, the carnival is looking for volunteers and more partners to assist with the activities.
“We do need volunteers, by all means, and they can contact myself,” said Proctor. “We’re also looking for individuals or organizations or businesses to come forward with ideas of events they might like to do.
“We’re looking to let the folks in Canmore know this is coming back, so they can consider being involved as a partner or volunteer.”
Proctor can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 403-678-6436.
