TOPSHAM, Maine — The Topsham Fairgrounds hosted a skijoring event for the second straight year on Saturday, but if you didn’t know better, you might think it was some version of a demolition derby.
A sport of Norwegian origin, skijoring translates to "ski driving." Skiers and snowboarders are pulled by horses and riders through a course of gates and jumps, with each team getting two runs through the course. Best time wins, and time penalties are given for any failures to follow the course correctly.
Last year, the jumps in Topsham were made solely out of snow. This year, they were wooden, and the snow on top of them iced over a bit overnight. The result? Hard landings of all varieties and a rodeo-like event where it was surprising if a skier made it all the way to the finish.
There was one skier -- I never got his name but I remember the look on his face, probably because it was the same as the look on mine, like he’d seen a ghost. He too had just finished a run in the Pro Division, and he seemed like he just needed somebody to commiserate with amidst the carnage.
“It’s crazy out there, huh?” he managed to croak.
“Yeah man,” I responded, still disheveled from my last wipeout. “These jumps are chewing us up and spitting us out.”
We gave each other a brief look, almost as if to say, "Should we hop in our cars, peel out, and never show our faces here again? Save ourselves before it's too late?" But skijoring is a team sport, and if there’s a horse, a rider, and a rope, there needs to be a skier. Otherwise, it’s just joring, and that’s not what these good people came to see.
In the end, the 15 teams in the Pro Division took two runs apiece. Of those 30 runs, eight made it to the finish line.
The Junior Novice and Novice divisions were where the crowd favorites could be found. Highlights included several horses deciding to reverse direction mid-course and head back to the trailer; the youngest skier, a girl in bedazzled leggings, going one-handed to give the crowd a big wave mid-run; and Bucky, an endangered Dales Pony, deciding to stop midway through his first run to lighten his load.
“[Bucky] definitely stopped in the middle to poo,” Danielle Mulcahy, who skied behind Bucky, said with a laugh. “He was just excited, you know. But then we went another time, and it went pretty darn smoothly.”
Danielle and her rider, Annie Parsons, came from Martha’s Vineyard for the competition. They said it’s the closest skijoring event to them that they have seen advertised.
Like all horse-related events, the high spirits of the participants and their entourages is what really made the day. Horse trailer row is where friends are made and, tale as old as time, Annie and Danielle just happened to park their rig near my team’s rig. Before I knew it, Danielle was strapping a GoPro to my chest as Annie dubbed me “the news bloke.” (I should clarify Annie is British. She also asked if my girlfriend was my “missus,” to which I responded, “Yes?”)
Lashing winds made it cold for spectators, but organizers said they thought the turnout was comparable to last year, when it felt like a spring day. There were also more participants this year than last year, with about 36 teams entered across the three divisions.
The much-anticipated “cowboy curling” that was scheduled to conclude the competition did not end up happening due to safety concerns about ice on the course. Overall, organizers said they’re looking forward to an improved event for next year.
There’s more skijoring action to come in Maine. Skijor Skowhegan, part of Somerset SnowFest, is set for 11 a.m. on Feb. 25 at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds.