Dozens of young skiers are taking to the eastern slopes of Edmonton’s river valley this weekend in an annual competition. The Sunridge Alpine Ski Team is hosting its annual Open Ski Cross race at its namesake ski area across the North Saskatchewan River from Rundle Park. Ninety females and males aged 12-18 from across Alberta and Saskatchewan have signed up for the competition that starts Saturday and runs through Sunday. Friday serves as a training day. Ski cross is a major alpine ski racing discipline that falls between the technical Slalom and Giant Slalom events and the SuperG and Downhill speed ones. It combines both technical and speed elements for its own unique race tactics and terrain manoeuvres. In a ski-cross race, four athletes compete on a closed track. Each athlete competes in three qualifying runs, scoring points for their places of finish. Those that make the cut move onto semifinals then finals. “It’s definitely a little different for them because now they have another athlete right beside them, basically barreling down the track trying to go as fast as possible,” Michael Jalosinski, the assistant chief of competition for the ski team, told CTV News Edmonton on Friday. Competitor Peyton Andries said she expects “good competition” all weekend at the Sunridge Ski Area. “I like racing against people because it’s better than just racing by yourself, because you have people bumping into you,” she told CTV News Edmonton. The event is open to spectators and free of charge. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach
