Old-school toboggans take the spotlight in Maine

The team "Portland Hash House Harriers", consisting of Abby Godfrey of Portland, left, Isaak Emery of Bar Harbor, center, and Dave Norman of Cape Elizabeth, take a run at the 31st annual U.S. National Toboggan championships at Camden Snow Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Camden, Maine. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via AP)

CAMDEN, Maine (AP) - China is hosting world-class athletes during the winter Olympics. Maine is hosting a bunch of folks on wooden toboggans.

The U.S. Toboggan National Championships kicked off Saturday with teams like Slush Puppies, Chowda Heads, Fast and Flurriest and Squid Pro Quo awaiting their turn on the toboggan chute at the Camden Snow Bowl.

All that's required to enter the competition is some moxie and a toboggan like the one used by Calvin and Hobbes in the comic strip.

Camden Snow Bowl Assistant Manager Holly Anderson said the adult participants love reliving their fun memories from childhood.

"Having been kids, we all sledded whether you were on a saucer or a lunch tray or a wooden toboggan. We've all done it. You're transported back to that, that good feeling you had," said Anderson, who serves as co-chair of the toboggan organizing committee.

Participants wait in line to take their runs in the 2-person and 3-person division of the 31st annual U.S. National Toboggan championships at Camden Snow Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Camden, Maine. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via AP)

Patrick Fritz of Camden, left, Dwight Nickles of Warren, and Terry Laukka of Warren, right, of the team "Pour Farmers" splash through water at the end of their run during the 31st annual U.S. National Toboggan championships at Camden Snow Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Camden, Maine. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via AP)

Participants are fired up that the event is back. Last year, it was canceled because of the pandemic.

Some racers are just out to have fun, wearing silly costumes, while others are out for bragging rights, with speeds reaching 45 mph (72 kph) on the chute before spilling onto Hosmer Pond.

There were nearly 400 teams signed up for the event. Most participants were from Maine and New England but some from as far away as South Carolina, Kentucky, Minnesota and California, Anderson said.

The competition raises money for the Camden Snow Bowl; a nonprofit, municipally-owned ski area on the 1,300-foot (396-meter) Ragged Mountain, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. The toboggan chute has been rebuilt twice, most recently in 1990.