Saturday’s low, gray sky and sporadic snowfall didn’t deter crowds from lining a J-shaped track at Big Mountain Ranch for the Whitefish Winter Carnival Skijoring competition.

“Things are shaping up awesome,” said one of the event’s committee members, Michael Righetti, as contestants rolled in. “We had a few hiccups early with traffic, but everything’s coming together just sweet as can be.”

More than 90 teams in three divisions were preparing to bolt down a 700-to-850-foot-long course. Each team’s rider urges the horse forward, as the skier in tow swerves through gates, crests over jumps, and grabs rings — or misses these features and incurs penalties.

The three fastest finishers in each division receive shares from a pot of their entry fees, estimated at more than $20,000.

This punishing competition was one of the Whitefish Winter Carnival’s early draws, but it was cancelled in the mid-1970s when the Carnival’s organizing committee could no longer insure the event.

It returned to the festivities in 2003, and Righetti said he’s been involved for the past seven or eight years.

In that time, he’s seen “changes in rules, mostly things to make it safer.” This year, the event has moved from Whitefish Airport to the Big Mountain Ranch, a better-suited venue east of town.

“We have a J-shaped track this year,” he noted. Unlike the U-shaped track of previous years, this “allows us to grab rings” near the end of the course.

This layout can also aid the fast-paced decisions teams must make on the course, explained his teammate, skier Tyler Smedsrud. “I like the round tracks, because the gates are set closer together and I can communicate with the rider and let him know if they can cut the corner, if we can shave off some time, if I need to run the horse wider so I can make a gate.

“Whitefish has always been good [with the] teammate aspect,” he added.

“I do like competing here,” said his teammate, Richard Weber III. “It’s a fun race, we’re happy to be here, we drove 1,000 miles, and hopefully we can take home some money.”

Both Smedsrud and Weber have been skijoring for about a decade, and made the more than 15-hour drive from Ridgway, Colorado for their third Whitefish Skijoring together.

For Smedsrud, it’s one of 8 to 12 annual competitions, each one delivering an adrenaline rush like nothing else.

“I like the ski racer aspect of it, with gates and jumps,” he said, “but then also the power of the horse, the teamwork between the rider, the skier, and also the horse.”

The competition will conclude on Sunday. Visit www.whitefishskijoring.com for more information.

Reporter Patrick Reilly can be reached at preilly@dailyinterlake.com, or at 758-4407.