The Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club is gearing up for its second annual Morice Mountain Run this weekend.
The event, which will be held on July 21, will feature a family-friendly three-km route, a recreational 5.5-km route and a 22.5-km route up to our alpine cabin.
“We hope this event encourages more people to get out and be active,” said club president Greg Yeomans. “There is no better motivator than signing up for an event.”
Yeomans said events such as this one - with participants registered from as far as Kelowna - can become important economic drivers to the region. However, he encourages more local residents to participate.
“So far, Smithers and Prince George have been leading in registration numbers,” he said. “It would be nice to see more from Houston and Burns Lake come out.”
The 22.5 km race starts at 10 a.m. while the other two races start at 11 a.m. The cost to participate ranges from $25 to $40, depending on the race, and registration ends on July 17 at midnight.
The Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club was incorporated as a non-profit society in 1987. It now has 218 members and dozens of other users.
The club manages ski trails in the Morice Mountain recreation site, located eight km south of Houston on Buck Flats Road, under a management agreement with B.C.’s Recreation Sites and Trails Branch.
Every year the club is tasked with grooming 32 km of skiing trails, 14 km of snowshoe or hiking trails and about 10 km of backcountry trails up to the alpine. Yeomans said this year the club will be grooming an additional four to five km of trails, including a dog-friendly ski loop.
“We have been working on improving the multi-season use as well,” he said.
Yeomans added that the ski club will be hosting an open house later this year to ask for input into improvements to the 6000-hectare Morice Mountain recreational site. The date still hasn’t been set.
For more information about the Morice Mountain Run, visit https://sites.google.com/site/moricemountainnordicskiclub/TrailRun18.
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