Frigid weather on Sunday forced organizers to cancel the Prince George Iceman for only the second time in its 27-year history.
With temperatures hovering around the -30 C mark at Otway Nordic Centre at 8 a.m. Sunday and the forecast not getting any better by the new 11 a.m. start time, the race was cancelled.
"We were definitely fretting over it [the weather] but the race committee said the nice thing about it, is it wasn't even close [to warming up]," said PG Iceman registrar Jim Van Bakel, who only had five hours of sleep Saturday night. "At 5:30 a.m. it was -28C and -30C by 8 a.m. It made cancelling it easy. It was too dangerous to put on and it wouldn't have been safe for participants and volunteers."
For the Iceman to proceed as scheduled, it had to be -19C or warmer at Otway. On Saturday, organizers pushed the start time back an hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the hopes of warmer temperatures. They shortened the skiing portion from two 4-km laps to one for the adults.
Despite the cold, some hearty Icemen souls skiied at Otway anyway.
Only once before in the 26-year history of the race has the Iceman been cancelled. That was in 1996 due to cold weather when it was -28 at race time.
Despite the race cancellation, the after-party banquet at the Civic Centre still went ahead as scheduled and attracted a full-house of competitors.
"We had a lot of positive feedback from the participants and our sponsors who all understood why we cancelled it," Van Bakel said. "Usually a concern is warm weather, so this is definitely an anomoly."
There were 540 competitors entered in this year's race, including 48 soloists and 103 teams.
Planning has already begun for the 2015 edition, set to take place in January. People can check out the event's website at www.pgiceman.ca for updates and when a specific date is announced.
