Despite the early arrival of spring, hip waders and snorkels will not be required to complete the course Sunday in the Stride and Glide Sports Spirit of the Rivers Loppet.
Snow conditions for the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club's annual season-ending event at Otway Nordic Centre are expected to be surprisingly good and that has organizers crossing their fingers the weather gods will co-operate and the trails will be in great shape for the race.
"The grooming staff have done a great job of taking care of the snow and preserving it -- there will be enough snow to run the loppet," said race chief of competition Andrew Watkinson.
"One of the big challenges we have this year is we're not going to be able to do a proper job of classic track-setting. I understand a lot of people only do classic and they will have a bit more difficult race. I don't expect any (course) records will be set this year but I expect everyone to have a good day."
The high-traffic, sun-exposed trails at Otway such as the stadium area and the lower part of the Tigger trail might pose a few problems and race officials will be armed with shovels and will make last-minute adjustments to the course, if needed, to keep the race route safe.
"If we have trouble with the main stadium we can move over to the biathlon stadium and run the event from there. We're confident people will have fun no matter what we do with it."
Considered a less-formal, recreational event, the loppet offers racers their choice of several distances -- 30 kilometres, 15 km, 7.5 km and 2.5 km (for young kids and parents with ski chariots). Last year's race drew 170 entrants. As of Wednesday night, 44 skiers were on the entry list.
"We had a huge uptick in registrations the last two days and we're hoping people show up in drives," said Watkinson, director of facilities for the Caledonia club.
The race starts at 10 a.m. Sunday. That is the first day of daylight saving time, so Watkinson says it's like starting the race an hour early, before the sun has much of chance to melt the snow. The deadline to enter is Friday at midnight. Go to zone4.ca to register.
