Athletes race from mountain in Ski to Tree event

A team of expat South Africans successfully defended their title in a gruelling sports competition they never expected to win in the first place.

The team of five again finished first in Sunday’s Ski to Tree, which saw 130 athletes ski, snowshoe, bike, paddle, and run from mountains east of Kelowna to the city’s downtown.

“Most of us are 50-plus in age, so we never really thought we'd do so well last year, never mind win it again this year,” team member Peter Tonkin said.

The five friends, including Tamlyn Boehr, Mike Ching and Geddan Ruddock, all emigrated from South Africa to Canada within the past 15 years, settling in Kelowna.

Conditions for the different legs of Sunday’s Ski to Tree varied along the length of the route, but didn’t present any insurmountable obstacles.

“Last year, there was a lot of snow in the mountain biking portion, but this year it was pretty much just mud and ice,” said Mark Janssen.

The Ski to Tree is a successor event to the Ski to Sea, a longtime fixture on the Kelowna sports calendar which ran for many years before petering out in part for lack of volunteers.

“That was a Kelowna classic, and we’re trying to bring something similar back, but with new energy and life,” said Ski to Tree race director Mike Greer, of Penticton-based Hoodoo Adventures.

The race is a 10-km cross-country ski race, a five-kilometre snowshoe race, an 18-km mountain bike race, a 50-km road bike race, a 10-km run and a 10- km paddle.

Participant numbers were up about 50 per cent this year, suggesting the event is catching the imagination of top-notch athletes. Team numbers varied, and there were even four solo competitors who completed all the different legs of the race themselves.

Partial proceeds from Ski to Tree go toward subsidizing the cost of outdoor recreational activities for Kelowna-area schoolkids, giving them the chance to try activities like rock climbing and paddleboarding.

The event takes its name from the fact that the competition ends at Tree Brewing in downtown Kelowna.