MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP -- Hundreds of kids were skiing down Marquette Mountain on Wednesday, but not because of the snow day.
Wednesday marked the first day of ski race training for the USSA Junior Division Championship race.
Around 300 pre-teen and teen athletes from across the Midwest and Canada were at the mountain for the event. All of them will undergo a day worth of training, and then on Thursday through Saturday, they'll compete and ski in 21 races each day.
"I mean, it's always stressful ski racing because you never know if you're going to finish because it's really easy to screw up," said racer Bricker Reed. "You screw up one time and it's over."
"They spend a lot of time; this year they've been training at the various clubs throughout the Midwest to compete here, so this is the culmination of all that training to compete at this championship," added Central Division Manager, Brewster McVicker.
All of the athletes competing in the four-day event are under 16 years old. About half of them will be selected to qualify for the Junior Olympics.
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