STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Billy Goat 10K Loppet skate race is back after a hiatus due to the pandemic.

Backwoods Mountain Sports will sponsor the event, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Sun Valley Nordic Center.

“It really is a great event for those wanting a pre-warmup for the Boulder Mountain Tour on Feb. 4, but it’s also a fun and low-key event for everyone,” said Jenny Busdon, who has long organized the fun race with Ted Angle. “Hopefully we will have a full-on brilliant day for this event. It didn’t happen last year due to COVID, so we’re looking forward to having this on the calendar.”

Racers will start out at the Sun Valley Clubhouse and follow part of the Trail Creek Loop out to the Proctor Loop before making their way back on the other half of the Trail Creek Loop. Registration starts at 9 a.m. inside the Sun Valley Club/Nordic Center.

The mass start for men kicks off at 10:30 a.m. with a mass start for women following three minutes later. The entry fee is $10 and members of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation may ski for free.

Backwoods Mountain Sports, which has sponsored the Loppet for the past 18 years, will offer raffle prizes at the race’s end so everyone has a chance to win.

The race got its name because it originally was run on the Billy’s Bridge loops 17 miles north of Ketchum. It was moved to the Sun Valley Nordic Center because of limited parking at Billy’s Bridge and a snowpocalypse in 2012.

Snow conditions have been outstanding at the Sun Valley Nordic Center this year, and the Nordic Center even has a new groomer that’s dedicated for Nordic skiing.

Chief of Race Course will be Kris Thoreson assisted by Steve Haims and Tate Mills, the former and current heads of the Sun Valley Nordic Center.

Questions? Call Jenny Busdon at 208-720-2540 or Ted Angle at 208-720-2822.