Montana News

World Skijoring Championships wrap up in Whitefish

Posted: Jan 28, 2013 8:58 AM by Tara Oster - MTN News
Updated: Jan 28, 2013 10:09 AM

WHITEFISH - The world skijoring championships wrapped up this weekend at the Whitefish Municipal Airport. The unique extreme winter sport is held each year as part of the Whitefish Winter Carnival.

Most of the skiers landed all three of the jumps, but what would a skijoring even be without a fall or two and a wayward horse now and again? That's skijoring in Montana.

"I grew up in Virginia and moved out here, and this is nothing that I would've ever seen back home," Brandom Price told us.

Skijoring in Whitefish started in the 1960s, but the so-called modern era started in 2003. Whitefish started hosting the World Skijoring Championships in 2009.

Casey's Bar in Whitefish is one of the event sponsors this year.

"It's the Whitefish Winter Carnival. We like to be a part of everything and we thought, what better year to be the presenting sponsor than our first year back in Whitefish," explained Casey's Bar manager Keven Guercio.

The object of the event is to get through the course with the fastest time and avoid penalties. And just to make sure the horses don't have all the fun, there's a special classification for mules.

"I mean the mules are pretty cool because I wouldn't expect this out of them, but you know they're doing it, and they're great," Price said.

Skijoring is said to have originated as a form of winter travel

"Where else do you get cowboys and skiers together to all have a good time in one day?" Guercio asked.

The fun event also helped out two non-profits, Human Therapy on Horseback and Wings Regional Cancer Support.