This year marks the fourth annual Sun Valley Nordic Festival. It includes the longest running cross-country race in North America.
The festival illustrates why Sun Valley is sometimes called Nordic Town USA. People get pretty excited about bundling up and cheering on a group of skiers to a snowy finish line.
Ivana Radlova is the Nordic Director at the Sun Valley Resort. She says one of the best parts about the festival is having hundreds of skiing fanatics all in one place.
“It’s the commotion; it’s the numbers of people coming here and enjoying skiing,” says Radlova.
Radlova is overseeing the newest race in this year’s festival. The U.S. Masters National race happens Thursday, with a shorter prologue race today. Thursday’s 10 kilometer event is designed for – well – masters.
“Typically, [you] don’t start skiing masters until you’re about in your 40’s," Radlova says. "So we have a lot of people in their 60's, 70's, we even have some in their 80's.”
She expects about 140 skiers to take part. On Saturday, the 32 kilometer Boulder Mountain Tour will feature around 800 skiers.
Other events this week include a film festival and skate ski sprints on a track in downtown Ketchum.
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