From March 17 to 19, Black Tusk Nordic Events (BTNE) will be host to an FIS Continental Cup ski jumping event at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP).
This marks the first time in more than three years that WOP’s ski jumps will be used for a major competition.
The event will play host to athletes from 10 different countries and will include world-class talent like Canadian Olympic bronze medallist in Mixed Team Ski Jumping Alexandria Loutitt, as well as many other Olympic-level athletes.
Spectators and families are welcome with lots to do including local beer and barbecue being served, live music, a ski and outdoor gear sale, as well as all WOP trails and tobogganing areas open for use.
Following the Continental Cup, the top cross-country athletes from Canada and the U.S., including Olympic gold medal winner Jessie Diggins, will make their way to WOP for the Canadian National Championships and the U.S. Super Tour finals, both taking place from March 20 to 27.
“This is the biggest combined event [at WOP] since the Olympics in 2010 … It’s huge,” said chair of BTNE Norm Laube. “Last year we were supposed to host world junior trials and of course with COVID we couldn't really host anything. So we're super excited.”
With events like these often taking 200 to 300 volunteers for everything to run smoothly, Laube is putting out a call to the community and inviting anyone who is interested in getting involved and helping out to send an email to [email protected] for more information.
“[We need] everything from helping with food and beverage to parking and crowd control and all that stuff,” he said. “So you don’t have to be a cross country or ski jump expert to get involved, anybody can help out. It’s super important and it's volunteers that will make this all come together.”
The two events coming up in March will also serve as a test event for BTNE for when it hosts next year’s Nordic Skiing Junior World Championships in January 2023, which will welcome more than 500 athletes from 40 different countries to WOP.
