Head Coach of the local high school teams, Gary King said the snow on the mountain this year has been great. Last year, when Mt. Ashland didn’t open till late January, the teams traveled to Mt. Bachelor to train.
“We had to travel every weekend to Mt. Bachelor, ” said King. “We were getting up at 3:30-4 in the morning on Saturday mornings then traveling to Mt. Bachelor and staying the night in a motel in bend and training on Saturdays and Sundays.”
Fortunately the early season this year has had much more snow.
“It’s very steep here so when we go off to bigger mountains for the state race and other races we tend to do better there,” said Tucker Houck, Senior at North Medford High School.
With more than 60 students from seven different high schools, Coach King said it’s always a friendly competition.
“When it’s race day, they represent their school, they want to beat each other for their school,” said King.
The group has been training long and hard for the upcoming races on January 11th and 12th.
The 2019 State Championships race will be held on Friday, February 22nd and Saturday, February 23rd on Mt. Bachelor. The 2020 State Championships is scheduled to be held on Mt. Ashland.
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