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This material is copyrighted by American Cross Country Skiers (AXCS) and should not be reprinted in any form -- print, electronic, etc. -- without the expressed written permission of the author (J.D. Downing) and publisher (American Cross Country Skiers -- AXCS). You are more than welcome to link to this info, just please don't copy it and post elsewhere. Please also remember that this type of educational resource is made possible by the members of AXCS. If you find this information useful, please consider joining AXCS and supporting xcskiworld.com in the future.

Creating New Events: Selecting An Event Course

Certainly one of the most exciting things about putting on events is coming up with a really cool new idea for an event course. Unfortunately this excitement fades a bit when the realities of doing anything truly creative start to intervene. As with other aspects of event development, a little balance is in order. You need enthusiasm to maintain the energy and commitment any XC ski event (large or small) requires. But you also need to have both feelt firmly grounded in the nuts and bolts reality event management also requires. Nowhere is this balance more critical than in the process of picking an event course.

A truly great race or tour course can literally sell itself to thousands. On the other hand, a course that is appealing only to a select few will make it tough to ever break the 50 skier mark. Further, the course must be positioned in such a way that the location will have a realistic chance of attracting the field size you want/need. There are many places in the world that could offer drop-dead incredible ski courses...and they are so far away from significant skier populations that large turnouts will nearly always be impossible.

The bottomline on the course selection process is to allow your imagination to run wild...and then reign it in with reality. The end result can be truly special. Here's some tips for the process.

• If you are going to be the event organizer and this is "your baby" from start-up, you absolutely have the right to call the shots on nearly every aspect of what this event is going to look like. Thus, if you really want a course that is going to offer 10,000 feet of climbing...by golly, you can do it. Just know that your likely turnout is going to be much smaller than if you selected a more "user friendly" route. There shouldn't be any value judgements on big versus small events as long as you are comfortable with whatever event you are most likely to produce.
  
  
• If you do want to create a large event, you have to design for the average skier. 100+ km ultra-marathons and 1km sprints just aren't going to be as popular as 30-50km events. Similarly, races with loads of difficult climbs/descents probably aren't going to attract loads of racers. Once again, they may cool events and worth doing. You just need to come up with something else if you want it to be big.
  
  
• The ideal course for average folks does not have to be perfectly flat or totally boring. The Great Ski Race in California has up to 1000 participants and it starts off with 12km of uphill over the Lake Tahoe rim! You can feature plenty of gradual ups and downs and even some barn burner downhills if you have lots of snowplowing room. The keys are to avoid really steep uphills at any point (they always result in back-ups and most folks just aren't equipped physically to tackle super steep climbs); avoid narrow downhills with lots of speed or corners; and always try to find as much room as possible for the course during the first 5km or so.
  
  
• Make the last third of the course as easy as possible no matter what the length. XC skiing is the world's best aerobic sport and when you are hurting in the last third of a race you need to have the course help you out a bit. The average participant doesn't enjoy hitting the finish line on their lips.
  
  
• Although they are a hassle to set-up and maintain, don't let road crossings, river crossings, or other physical obstacles stop you from considering a cool race course. Any kind of obstacle can be worked around if it is financially and logistically realistic so don't be afraid to be creative! Of course, if you can avoid a major obstacle by all means do so.
  
  
• With each and every potential course concept, visualize worst case scenarios and see if the course holds up. Can it withstand a bad snow year? Will you always battle bare spots, high winds, or wet areas? Is the course safe from an emergency access/egress standpoint? How easily can you get volunteers to key spots? Will Joe or Jane Average find this course safe and enjoyable?
  
  
• Put your course ideas through a rigorous test versus an event management checklist. Is the cost of a particular course worth the gain? Remember that coolness doesn't pay the bills.
  
  
• Point-to-point events, particularly for long distances, are one of the very best ways to develop a core following of participants. The simple fact that people are going from here to there really harkens back to the essence of "cross country" skiing. This applies to full-scale race events just as much as recreational tours. There are very few loop courses that can compare to a point-to-point in terms of getting skiers interested. The problem, of course, with point-to-point events is the pile of logistical hassles involved compared to a simple loop with one start/finish area. It simply comes down to whether or not it is worth the work to create the type of event you want.
  
  
• The most common element to most successful point-to-point courses is a scenic route. Let's face it, the average skier just isn't interested in boring maze through a forest. Most people want to cruise along a course that offers some vistas, points of interest, and diversity of backdrops along the way. Plus as an organizer, if you are going to go to the trouble of setting up a point-to-point event, you want something cool to show off. Yet balance is still needed. Wide open vistas are great, but you also have to think about what will happen on a really windy day. Frozen lakebeds and ridgelines are incredible on a perfect 25F blue sky/no wind day -- and downright awful in a 5F blizzard.
• When and if you do create loop courses you want to keep in mind your participant base. If you've got 100 citizen racers and 5 elite racers you want to avoid small loops that maximize difficult terrain. Most citizen skiers approach events as a fun, healthy, social way to get out and fire up their engines--but they aren't particularly interested in 3 laps of the infamous 5 km "Loop Of Death". Conversely, if you are hosting an elite event with few citizen skiers you are going to want to create something with plenty of challenge and spectator viewing.
  
  
• If you want your event to have zero competitive elements-- always design for maximum scenery and participant enjoyment (i.e. inclusive of all abilities). However, keep in mind that scenery and experience are just as important to a hard-core racer as someone out for a cruise with friends. Just about any ski event can serve both tourers and racers if the right elements are in the mix. You can even run the events on two separate days of the same weekend as all the big three Scandinavian marathons do.
  

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