On December 5th, the North American 2010 skimo racing season will begin with Tiki Torch Dash hosted at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (KHMR).
After delivering an amazing race course, organization and after-party last April people at KHMR decided to take a stronghold on the Canadian racing scene by hosting two events this season.
Reference: Check out how the Dogtooth Dash 2009 went down.
KHMR is located near Golden, BC on the eastern side of the Purcell Mountains and is known for its steep terrain skiing. Now back to Tiki Torch event info.
Tiki Torch Dash quick facts:
- date – Dec 5, 2009
- atmosphere – very friendly
- consists of two separate events – 2 person team relay and a solo hill climb
- early bird registration (till Dec 4th) is $25 for both events, $35 the day of the race
- online registration is here
- both are night events – headlamps are mandatory
- bring also beacon, shovel, probe, helmet
- everyone is welcome – skimo gear, tele, split-boards, snowshoes
- prizes for costumes as well as fast times
- great party with a DJ afterwards (complimentary dinner)
Tiki Torch Dash itinerary:
Relay
4 laps – each leg of the relay race is approx 600 ft vertical, each team member will do 2-3 laps. More info and details are still to be announced.
Hill climb
Solo event with a mass start. Vertical gain will be about 1500 ft. More info and details are still to be announced.
Tiki Torch Dash schedule:
- 4.00pm – 5.30pm: Last min registration at Day Lodge
- 6.00pm: Pre race meeting at Day Lodge
- 7.00pm: Tiki Torch Dash start (relay) at Plaza
- 8.30pm: Hill climb start (solo) at Plaza
- 9.00pm+: Apres and awards at Day Lodge
More info and registration
For more info go to KHMR website.
To register online visit here.
David Dornian says
I’ve had that conversation with Ian, and the SMCC committee members. We’ve come up with a way to integrate individual performances at the Tiki Torch to generate one result, that then can be elected by the athlete concerned as one of the three results over the season that will contribute to their national ranking. Details of how this will work, exactly, will be availably on the the skimocanada.org webpages in conjunction with the rankings, just as soon as I get the spreadsheets and formulas set up. Soon.
Stano says
Ian, thanks a lot for your comments. I think it answers everything I and Bram were wondering about.
Looking forward to see everyone dashing for torches at Tiki 🙂
Ian G says
Hi Guys,
Great questions, As it stands right now both races will count towards overall standings. I’ll be talking to Dave Dornian this week to iron out the nitty gritty details. It’ll be pretty straight forward to award points for the vertical race. My thoughts for the teams relay is that both team members will share the points, using the point system that Stano explains above, so first place team members BOTH get 100 pts, second place team will both get points based on their percentage of the 1st place time and so on….
Like Stano said we want good race participation in both events, so with both races counting for points people won’t be saving themselves for later.
As for timing, our thoughts were that if we focused on the Vertical race for the “main event” it’d bomb for sure. While most dedicated race geeks are keen on an uphill race only, it’s a tough sell for most of the general ski-touring public. And we want to make the night more inviting for everyone….. With both races counting towards standings, I think the vertical race will be a bit more fierce as the teams will be split up and people will have another chance for glory.
Hopefully that clears it up abit, It’s great to hear people excited for the Tiki!! I look forward to seeing you guys here.
Ian
Stano says
Hi Bram,
I wondered about the same thing:”wouldn’t it make more sense to have the vertical race (the one for points) first, rather than second?”
It would because now people might skip the first one or be saving themselves for the later stages, and that is not good for the overall race participation. But I think they want the more friendly race happen sooner, so people don’t have to wait around too much.
Anyways, will see what Ian says (one of the organizers). Also, his blog is http://goldenskimo.wordpress.com, check whether there is more info. But he would have probably updated me already if there was.
Bram says
Hi Stano,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, it’d be great to have this race count, especially given the fact that the whistler race will likely not be held this year (http://skitheory.blogspot.com/2009/10/whistler-race-cancelled-again.html)… I’ll check back for updates here, thanks!
Also, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the vertical race (the one for points) first, rather than second?!? Just thinking out loud here.
Yes, the point system works quite good I think. Participated in the Whistler race 2yrs ago and the Nelson race last year as well, so have some experience with the whole thing now.
Cheers,
Bram
Stano says
Bram, and I forgot to address how points are awarded.
They are awarded based on time you loose on the winner of a race. There is a formula for it for fast calculation but this is how it works:
The winner’s time is considered 100% = 100 points. So let’s say it took him 1h 40m, thus 100min becomes 100 points. Your time is 110min. So you calculate how many per cents you were slower than the winner and that’s how many points you get but in the opposite way, so in this case it would be about 91 or something.
In my opinion, for overall results of series or cups in any endurance sports this is the best and most fair formula there ever was. Because after all a series points should show/reward a consistency of performances rather than spikes (high or low).
Stano says
Hello Bram, thanks for the kudos.
As far as I know right now it has not been fully decided whether the Tiki Torch event will count towards the overall series, however, we (skimo racing community – organizers, athletes, the ACC) will be keen to have it count. My personal suggestion would be to count only the uphill climb because the relay is suppose to be more fun than a race.
I am going to ask Ian to comment on this here for you/us.
Bram says
Hi Stano, thanks for the awesome website. Lots of very cool info!!! Have a question about the tiki torch race, do you happen to know if this one counts for points towards the ’09-’10 Canadian Skimo Cup? And if yes, how these will be awarded… because there are two races, the relay race (first) and the hill climb (second), right? Do both count, or just one of them? If you’re not sure I’ll email the organisers… Very stoked about the upcoming skimo season. Thx!! Bram