Ski Snowstar to host SI kids qualifying event

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By S. A. Thornbloom | Friday, January 26, 2007 2:12 AM CST | () comments

TAYLOR RIDGE, Ill. — Kids will be looking to reach some big air on skis and snowboards Saturday at Ski Snowstar Winter Sports Park.

The qualifying event at Ski Snowstar is for nine through 13-year-old children as part of the 2007 Sports Illustrated Kids Next Snow Search. The three-month talent search is to find young athletes who best represent the next generation of extreme skiers and snowboarders.

“We’ve registered before in the past to be a host site,” said Ed Meyer, the general manager of Ski Snowstar. “This year we were accepted and are very excited to host one of the qualifying events.”

Ski Snowstar is just one of 70 qualifying sites in America and Canada that started in December and ends next month. The series culminates in a championship event at Killington Resort in Vermont March 2-4.

For the finals, Killington will host more than 150 athletes between the ages of 9 and 13, who have been selected from the qualifying events to compete in everything from park and pipe, to bumps racing and big mountain skiing. It’s a three-day test of all-around ski on snow.

Although not the biggest resort of the qualifying sites, Ski Snowstar is set to judge 40 to 50 youngsters in skiing and snowboarding skills on downhills and over bumps and ramps. There is no pipe at the park.

“You never know, one of our kids could wind up in the finals,” Meyer said. “Last year a kid from a little hill in Pittsburgh won the entire thing.”

A centerpiece of this year’s Next Snow Search program will be the second annual “All-Stars” event that will bring together the elite members of the 2005 and 2006 Next Snow teams for two days of competition at Colorado’s Steamboat Resort. The event will be Feb. 2 and 3 with a one-hour show featuring the competition and the SI Kids Next Snow Search “All-Stars” airing on NBC Sports Feb. 25.

Participants in this year’s competition will have an opportunity to participate in the “All-Stars” event next year.

Registration for the qualifying event at Snowstar will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday and competition begins at 1:30 p.m.

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.