Thanks to Sue and Tammy for putting this event together, doling out the virtual poker cards as people collected them, as well as posting the signs around the network beforehand and collecting them afterwards! Thanks also to Neil and Bjoern for manning the biathlon station, and to everyone who participated in this year's event. It was a great day out there with spectacular weather and 21 skiers collecting cards and trying their hand at biathlon target shooting. We're aiming to do it again next year! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is last year's information: Saturday March 18th, 2023 from 10am to 2pm is this year's St. Patrick's Day Poker Ski with Biathlon. Here's how it works:
Sign up is $10 per person, and all entry fees go back to participants as follows: 50% of the pot to the best hand, 30% to the second best hand, and 20% to the third best hand.
There will be 5 locations in the network you need to ski to. At each location you receive a card and these 5 cards will make up your poker hand. Location 1: Map sign at the junction of Moose Track and Great Grey. Location 2: McGillivray Lake Cabin door Location 3: Map sign at bottom of Stellers Jay, across from the top of Raven Ramble Location 4: Trail sign at the junction of En Garde and McGillivray Lake Trail Location 5: Biathlon setup in the NE corner of the Nordic Playground. (On your left as you ski down from the east end of P5).
The locations can be visited in any order, but a logical route would be to start with Biathlon (if it's too busy then you can come back and do it at the end), up either Great Grey, or McGillivray Lake Trail and Moose Track to Location 1., then head over to the Cabin for Location 2, then up Raven Ramble to Location 3, along Nuthatch and down Blue Grouse to Location 4, then back to Biathlon.
At each location, take a selfie of yourself with the numbered sign, and text it to Sue Price at 250-305-0524 with your name. (For the Biathlon station, take a selfie of yourself with one of the Biathlon rifles!) If you're in a group, send a separate text for each person. Your poker card will be texted back to you. The winners (and their poker hands) will be announced by email to all participants and on the Club Website, and also at the beginning of the Destination Challenge windup event at 3:30 the same day at the Nordic centre. Prize money will be e-transferred to the winners by Sue.
Biathlon: This year we're combining the Poker Ski with Biathlon to give club members a chance to try out our laser biathlon setup (no bullets!). Participation is not mandatory, you can just collect your poker card by having your photo taken with one of the rifles, but participants are welcome to try their hand at biathlon style target shooting. It will be very informal and depending on availability you can use the equipment as many times as you want. You can do it at the start or end of your ski, or both. If you're interested in doing more biathlon, please tell Neil or Bjoern, our volunteers who will be manning the biathlon station. If there's enough interest we may try to put on an informal demonstration event later in March that should be fun for all levels of skiers/shooters.
How to Enter the Poker Ski: Send an e-transfer for $10 per participant to Sue Price at [email protected]. In the message section, write Poker Ski, and list participants' name(s). Then, between 10am and 2pm Saturday the 18th, go ski the course and collect your poker hand. It would be helpful for Sue if entries are in by Friday night.
All participants must be Club members. Seeing as the season is almost over, though, if you're joining at this late date, we'll give you a free entry for next year.