By: Kelly Rockey
With Bellingham’s annual Ski to Sea race and festival just around the corner, Whatcom Community College and its student ambassadors are working hard to get ready for the various events.
The student ambassadors are in charge of building a float for the parade as well as getting a team signed up to participate in the race.
Ski to Sea is Bellingham’s annual seven-leg relay race, held on May 25 this year. Starting at the base of the Mt. Baker Ski Resort and ending at Marine Park in Bellingham Bay, the event includes a different sport at every leg of the race.
The legs will be cross country skiing, downhill skiing or snowboarding, running, cycling, canoeing, mountain biking, and sea-kayaking, in that order, said Race Director Pete Coy.
Grace Flora, Whatcom student ambassador and the Whatcom Ski to Sea race team captain, is still adding members to the team roster and is looking for people to participate in the canoeing and sea kayaking legs of the race.
She said they would like to have alternates for the team as well, but she is primarily focused on getting a full team together to begin with. The team will be composed of both Whatcom students and staff.
“I’m really hoping that this isn’t a one-time thing, but that Whatcom can have a team every year,” said Flora. “My initial idea was that we have a presence in the Ski to Sea parade, so why not the race?”
Although the festival is focused around the tradition of the race, Ski to Sea has much more to offer to its competitors and attendees. There will be a parade with various floats and marches the day before the race, a volunteer barbecue, and a finish-line beer garden to celebrate the end of the race and festival together.
Whatcom’s float is currently under construction in an off-campus storage unit. The ambassadors are building a giant orca float.
Over 4,000 competitors from more than 500 different teams will be competing in the race, according to the event website, including athletes from all over the world. The event has gained notoriety after more than 100 years of existence, and is one of Bellingham’s largest annual events.
The race originally stems from the Mt. Baker Marathon, which began in 1911 as an annual foot-race stretching from the base of Mt. Baker to the summit and back, according to the event’s website. Over the years, the race has adapted to include skiing (or snowboarding), biking, canoeing and kayaking. The marathon was officially recreated in 1973 and given the name: Ski to Sea, according to the event’s website. It was adjusted to a relay-race as a way to “showcase the recreational opportunities in Whatcom County.”
