Last Sunday, The Alpine Yukon downhill Race Team wrapped-up its ski season by taking on a club challenge “Ski-a-thon” and raised over $3,600 for the Whitehorse Foodbank. The team basically accepted a challenge to beat the long- standing record of most laps ever skied in-one day at Mount Sima.

The record for most laps skied is 26 in six hours and that record is held by “Tall Paul” known by alpine members as one of Sima’s most dedicated recreational skiers. Well, that record was shattered this past weekend.

“The ski team demonstrated an amazing level of endurance and team camaraderie through the Ski-a-thon,” said Alpine Yukon’s president Matt Jenner said. “The team began skiing at 11 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. and had recorded 10 laps by 1p.m.”

Head Coach Urs Schirmer and assistant Coach Dean Vollmer helped the kids stay alert and energized throughout the ski event.

“Over 34,000 metres of total terrain was skied. To put that into perspective, that’s like skiing a straight-line from Whitehorse to Marsh Lake a distance of 34km at high speed.” Jenner said,

A radar gun was used to measure downhill speeds, all racers consistently reached a speed of 80km/hour but the fastest recorded speed was clocked at 95km/hour.

The Ski-a-thon event was a major success and we thank our sponsors who pledged the race team. A big shout-out goes to the Swiss Bakery, Yukon-Wide Adventures, Whitehorse Surgeon’s Association, Matrix Research Archeologists, Ordish & Ordish Accountants and Mt. Sima.

Most of all, we commend you, our athletes, for their community spirit of reaching out and helping one-another with such enthusiasm, we get over the finish line by working together.

Submitted by Alpine Yukon