Skijoring makes the jump

Around 500 spectators came to Saratoga for the 2nd Annual Skijoring Races over the weekend according to Will Faust.

“We’ve certainly got some things we can improve on for next year,” Faust said, “Between Richard Raymer and Karl Smith, they did a bang-up job on the course.”

Faust was pleased the event didn’t experience any major track maintenance issues like the year before. The difficulty of the track on Saturday encouraged communication between skiers and riders.

“The teams that had finishing times on Saturday were the teams that were talking together,” said Faust.

On Sunday, the course was opened up more and higher jumps were added to the course for more of a “wow factor” according to Faust. Another measure of success was the amount of volunteers the event saw, from announcing to starting gate judges. On improvements for next year, Faust included the course for the skiers.

“We know how to do the dirt track for the horses and so we are learning on the skiers side on what to do,” Faust said.

Faust added that people were more than willing to offer up suggestions over the weekend to help improve the event next year.

“We have to improve little by little,” Faust said, “Leadville, Colo. has been doing this for 70 years.”

Faust says one of his favorite things about Skijoring is that it pairs people up who would never normally work together. He noted that teams that were paired together this year were already excited for next year.

“It’s a good community event,” said Faust.