February’s approaching, alarmingly quick.

Which means that it’s time for some Cookie Race schtick!

The last day of that month – on Leap Day, in fact,

The Pocaterra trail system will be perfectly tracked.

The sun will shine brightly, the winds will be light.

Trays full of cookies will stretch out of sight.

Racers will line up; the start gun will blast.

Kids, teens and adults will ski super fast.

Volunteers will smile and hand out candy bags,

Or serve hot soup or scoop up course flags.

Champions will stand on a podium of snow,

Someone’s little brother will make snowballs to throw.

Once more the great heart of our club will shine through.

And to help make it all happen, we’re counting on you!

It’s true, cookie time is almost upon us! The Kananaskis Ski Marathon, better known as the Cookie Race, is our club’s biggest event of the year. It happens on the beautiful trail system out at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, with distances ranging from 500m to 42km. Aid stations famously provide cookies, home-baked by our fabulous club members. Please everybody, plan to bake one or two dozen cookies, even if you’re not coming to the race. We’ll gather those up in the days before the race.

The race website www.cookierace.com gives all the details, but here are some highlights:

• January 23 (today!) is the deadline to order swag like shirts, toques, and headbands in time to receive them at the race. You can still order them later, but you might not receive them until after the race. Anyone can order swag, not just racers, and the artwork is beautiful so do take a look!
• Race fees go up on February 5, but you can register as late as February 26.
• Setup day is Friday February 28, and race setup beats working so please take the day off and spend it with us out at Pocaterra!
• The race happens on Saturday February 29.

The volunteer signup sheet, with all its juicy hours that count towards your volunteer bond, is at www.volunteersignup.org/L4KL9

Thanks one and all,

The Cookie Race Organizing Committee