The cool weather that’s kept daytime highs below freezing all this week is just what the doctor ordered for participants in the 37th annual Prince George Iceman.
It appears the two outdoor venues used for the multisport endurance race will be ready for Sunday’s race.
The biggest concern has been the 400-metre ice oval at Exhibition Park, which as of last Friday had melted down to bare dirt.
Iceman chair Julie Ubdegrove says volunteers have worked diligently flooding and scraping the rink at all hours of the day, knowing the ice has to be thick enough to last through Sunday’s race.
“I do not know yet but it’s sounding very promising,” said Ubegrove. “They have nine more floods to do before the weekend and if the weather’s staying cold they’re able to flood so everybody’s optimistic that this is going to happen.”
There’s not enough snow to open most of the cross-country ski trails at Otway Nordic Centre but the host Caledonia Nordic Ski Club has prepared a modified one-kilometre loop course on artificial snow that will be used for the race.
“We’ll have 120 (skiers) at the start line and it’s going to be tight, but at least we can still make it happen for everybody,” said Ubdegrove.
Some snow flurries are expected tonight with a low of -7 C. That will continue through the night heading into a Thursday high of -3 C and a low of -12 C. Friday’s high will be -4 C, with a low of -7 C with a risk of flurries. The high/low for Saturday is predicted at 2 C/ -7 C.
Race day temperatures could be near-perfect. Environment Canada is calling for a high of -1 C and low of -10 C under partly sunny skies.
A last-minute influx of participants beat the Tuesday night deadline to sign up for the race and there are now 382 people on that list, including 35 soloists.
“In the last 24 hours we got just about 100 people,” said Ubdegrove. “It was pretty amazing, we could not believe how many people signed up at the last minute.
“Next year we’re hoping we can be full force again, back up to 500 or so. The weather this year really did not work in our favour. I’m sure we would more people if we had gotten a decent winter, but we’re happy with the turnout.”
The race starts Sunday at 10 a.m. with an eight-kilometres cross-county ski at Otway. From there they’ll put on their sneakers for the 10 km run along Otway Road and Foothills Boulevard to Exhibition Park for the skating segment. Skaters will dig in for five km then transition into the second run segment on a five km course through the residential area south of CN Centre. That leads into the final Iceman leg, the 800-metre swim at the Prince George Aquatic Centre.
An awards banquet will follow Sunday afternoon at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre.
