Photo by Pam Doyle

With just over two weeks to go before the big event, preparations for Alberta World Cup 2010 are kicking into high gear in Canmore. With over 200 athletes from 25 nations confirmed to compete, this year's races promise to be bigger and better than ever. "Team confirmations are streaming in now and it looks like we'll be very close to a full international field," remarked Al Maddox, Chair of the Event Organizing Committee. "This will truly be a unique opportunity to witness Olympic caliber racing in our own backyard."

As the final winter-sport World Cup before the Winter Olympics kick-off in Vancouver, the Canmore event is expected to draw significant crowds and media attention. "Most international media are planning to make Canmore their final stop en route to Whistler," noted Maddox. With this heightened media attention around the event organizers are expecting record spectator numbers for the races. "We're looking at 5000-plus fans for the sprint races on Saturday," commented Maddox. "The atmosphere should be electric!"

In addition to racing action at the Canmore Nordic Centre on February 5th and 6th, a variety of festivities have been planned by the Town of Canmore and will run at the Canmore Civic Centre and on a snow-covered Main Street throughout the weekend. Highlighting this “World Cup Community Celebration” is the plan to completely cover two blocks of Main Street in downtown Canmore with snow. The downtown ski track will be open to the general public for skiing and will also feature organized events such as sled-dog racing, ice carving competitions, Winter Carnival activities and a Fast & Female event hosted by 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist Chandra Crawford.

Full event details and competition schedules can be found at www.tourismcanmore.com/worldcup and www.albertaworldcup.com.

For additional information please contact:

Matthew Jeffries
(403) 619 0691
matthew@threesixtythree.com

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