STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
PHOTO BY CRAIG WOLFROM
The Sun Valley Education Foundation has moved its second annual Rotarun Rip-A-Thon, originally scheduled for Dec. 1 through 4, to Dec. 14-18 because of the curveball that Mother Nature has thrown in terms of warm weather.
A Rip-A-Thon Showcase featuring high-flying athletes will cap it off from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18.
"We want to ensure we can build the best venues for the athletes and the balmy temperatures and lack of snow haven't played to the originally scheduled dates," said Heather Foster, director of Strategic Communications and Developments for SVSEF.
The Rip-A-Thon is part of the SVSEF’s 12 Days of Christmas (actually, 10 Days of Christmas), which includes the organization’s 45th annual Wild Game Dinner and Auction.
The Rip-A-Thon was started last year as a way to raise money while social interaction was being discouraged due to the pandemic.
SVSEF athletes will solicit pledges and donations between now and the event. Then they will challenge themselves to gain as much vertical and ski as many kilometers as possible during the four-day event. Alpine and Nordic skiers will rack up the mileage from 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 14-17 at Rotarun Ski Area west of Hailey. They will finish it off from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18.
A free Rip-A-Thon Showcase featuring aerial artistry and more under the lights will cap the event from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18. It will include a bonfire, DJ, food trucks and athletes ripping it up on the Dual Slalom, Sturtevants’ Air Bag, Cross Country Track and Rail Jam venues.
The 45th annual Wild Game Dinner on Dec. 10 sold out within 36 hours of tickets going online. But a limited number of To-Goat dinner boxes prepared by Warfield Distillery & Brewery will be delivered to the doors of those who wish to participate in the Virtual Wild Game Dinner Experience, silent auction and trivia game.
The SVSEF, which was founded in 1966, needs to raise more than $325,000 for financial aid for youngsters participating in SVSEF programs, said Scott McGrew, the SVSEF’s executive director.
Those who would like to help fund gear and equipment needs for various programs can go online beginning Dec. 4 and make a tax-deductible donation towards the purchase of whisker gates, which are poles with colored straws that can be used in place of racing gates, as well as pop-up tents, tube rails and a four-track ATV to groom the cross-country trail.
For more information, visit www.svsef.org