Thrills and Spills!

Riding the rails has a whole new look

A A A Comments By Julie Dunn Thursday, Dec 25 2003

SAT, 12/27

All board for the Jingle Rails! Rail Jam in Winter Park.

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Wondering how to fill the weekend lull between Christmas and New Year's Eve? Pack your bags and head to Winter Park's Jingle Rails! Jail Ram, a snowboard rail competition featuring 44 amateur and professional athletes from across the state. "This is one of our busiest weekends up here, and we wanted to come up with something cool and fun that would really bring the town to life," says Winter Park youth-marketing manager Bob Holme. "The whole rail scene is really exploding."

Jingle Rails will kick off with athletes demonstrating and explaining their tricks and giving a safety lecture and a brief history of rail riding. "We want to educate the people who might not have seen this before," Holme says. "We want to teach them what all the tricks are, like the technical aspects of switch tricks or the difference between a board slide and a lip slide."

But even experienced boarders may be surprised during the multi-rail Jail Ram contest, which will include DJs spinning and a colorful MC calling out tricks. "As creative as the riders are getting these days, you never know what kind of tricks they're going to show up with," Holme says, "but I'd expect that we'll see some flips off of the rails and even 450-degree spins onto the rails. The tricks are just sick."

Jingle Rails is free and runs today from 4 to 8 p.m. at Cooper Creek Square in downtown Winter Park. For details, call 1-970-726-1590 or visit winterparkresort.com. -- Julie Dunn

Run Away
Pound the pavement for charity
SAT, 12/27

Finish up the holiday season in a mad dash this week with two organized runs. Start off with today's Kwanzaa 5K Celebration Run/Walkand end with the nineteenth annual New Year's Eve 5K Resolution Run & Walk. "It's an opportunity to get a little exercise in before you go out and drink, party or whatever it is you're doing for New Year's," says Resolution Run spokesman Mike Heaston.

The Kwanzaa 5K, which is sponsored by the Potts Trotters running club, takes place at 10 a.m. in City Park; proceeds benefit the John and Edna Mosley Scholarship Fund. Registration fees are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and kids ages seventeen and under.

The Resolution Run goes down at the southeast corner of Washington Park at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31; entry fees are $25 for adults and $17 for kids ages seventeen and under (add $5 for race-day registration). Proceeds benefit the Family Resource Center Association, a non-profit partnership serving families in Colorado.

For details and registration, go to www.active.com. -- Julie Dunn

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