Sports

World Cup Skiing in Cable Wisconsin

By KBJR News 1
January 30, 2012 Updated Jan 30, 2012 at 11:57 AM CDT

Cable, WI (Northlands NewsCenter) -- The first race of the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Cable, Wisconsin gets underway tomorrow.

The long road to making the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup a reality in Cable, Wisconsin has finally come to fruition. Cable and Minneapolis are hosting the second phase of the international racing competition for the 2012 Nordic Skiing Cup series, an event that hasn't been held on U-S soil in many years.

"The first event was in Norway the final event will be in Finland.
This is an event that is comprised of cross country skiing and biathlon competitions for visually impaired athletes, standing athletes and sitting athletes."

As training began, the athletes made their way around the track and honed in on their targets as athletes acclimate to the course, the snow, and Wisconsin in general.

"We're familiarizing the athletes. Welcoming them in. allowing them to test the equipment, test out the area and get course familiarization."

"Familiarization with the environment and their surroundings and ensuring that everything before the competitive events occurs that everything's smoothed out and they know what's expected."

More than 100 athletes, from 20 different countries, will compete in both the Biathlon and Cross-Country portions of the World Cup event. The event is free to the public and Mary Motiff the Director of Tourism and Recreation says there are plenty of ways to get involved including volunteering.

How thrilling is it to see all these international flags and all these athletes just wandering around and practicing and then to see the competition is going to be even that much more exciting."

Bayfield County Tourism Director Mary Motiff says many schools throughout the area are planning field trips to Telemark to watch the strongest competitors in the world race in preparation for the Olympics.

The shooting gallery, used for the biathlon races, was configured in four days and is designed to accommodate visually impaired athletes with laser technology.

Jordan Weinand
jweinand@northlandsnewscenter.com

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