Executive Director Christie Hind said it’s great to be back in person after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus. She highlighted the traditional sponsors, the variety of runners, and the original T-shirt design created by one of the student athletes from the alpine ski team.
“And this goes back to the ‘80s. I mean, Jana and Gary Cole started this tradition. Jim Clifford's been around. They're still sponsoring and helping us host this really fun event," Hind said. "All ages, everybody in the community is encouraged to attend. We've got great registration so far. We're tracking our 2019 numbers. We had a young alpine athlete chosen as the winner, and her amazing design is on the back of the T-shirt. It's super cool. You can see it on our website.”
The money raised will support the nine teams that are part of the Park City Ski and Snowboard. Although it’s a winter sports organization, it runs programs every month of the year.
Athletes 16 and older will travel this summer to France, Chile, New Zealand, and Whistler Mountain in British Columbia. The younger kids on the team will have summer opportunities as well.
“Right here in Park City, we've got lots and lots of summer camps. You don't have to be a member of one of our teams to participate in our camps," Hind said. "We've got a really awesome mountain bike camp this summer. We've got 60 kids participating in that. And we have, I think, a couple of spots left on a couple of the days. It's a morning program from 9 a.m. to noon.”
Hind said they are starting a new youth development “pre-Devo” program this year with 7- to 9-year-olds. Registration opens in July.
“It’s all disciplines. It's a multi-sport approach. So, kids can choose various of our disciplines sort of like an a la carte," Hind said. "And it's really so that kids can sample because we believe, especially those early ages, that getting kids exposed to all kinds of disciplines is really important before they start to specialize.”
The ski and snowboard team offers public freestyle programs for everyone aged 7 and older at the Utah Olympic Park using the Spence Eccles Olympic Freestyle Pool.
Due to a partnership with U.S. Ski and Snowboard, athletes 13 and older will now have limited access to the national organization’s Center of Excellence, an elite training facility in Park City.
"So, we will be replacing our HPC here in town which we've been enjoying for a couple of years with access, like I said, on a limited basis a few hours a day where some of our athletes aged 13 and older will be able to do their high-performance strength and conditioning training at the COA," Hind said.
Registration closes July 3, the night before the run. Those interested can use the QR code on the website to sign up. It costs $40 for adults and $30 for kids.
Check-in starts at 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 4, with the start gun going off at 8 a.m. The course is 3.2 miles and follows Three Kings Drive to Payday Drive with a turnaround back to the start, which is at the base of Park City Mountain Resort.
