Committee making progress on winter games bid

Moose Jaw is still in the running to host the 2010 Saskatchewan Winter Games.
Although some communities have abandoned bids to hold the event due to trouble securing a ski hill for alpine competitions, Todd Sharpe, vice-chairperson of the local bid committee, said Moose Jaw's application is going just fine.
"We're making progress," he said. "We're working with Mission Ridge (Winter Park) to see about using their facility."
Since the hill is an hour-and-a-half away in Fort Qu'Appelle, Moose Jaw has included a scaled-down version of an athlete's village in its bid.
"The point is to have the whole games experience," said Sharpe. "You don't want to be riding back and forth on a bus all day."
Moose Jaw's bid committee meets with representatives from Mission Ridge later this month and expects to find out then if the hill will participate.
Other facilities and groups have already signed up to help, should the city be awarded the games.
"We've had such great support from everybody we've dealt with so far," said Sharpe. "We've really put ourselves on the map over the last 10 years."
Moose Jaw hosted the 1996 Saskatchewan Winter Games and was a satellite location for the 2001 Canada Games hosted by Regina.
About 14 sports will make up the 2010 games, including alpine skiing, hockey, cross-country skiing, table tennis and judo.
Previously, bid committees were able to pick the events they wanted to host, but Sask Sport Inc. recently changed the rules to balance out competition.
It also built a cultural component into the games, with hosting cities responsible for providing culture-based activities for participants.
"It's hard to give specific examples of what we'll do at this point," said Sharpe.
"Key areas we expect to include are under ceremonies and protocol and in the athlete's village."
Moose Jaw's bid committee has a of lot of work left to do before the March deadline, but Sharpe is sure the city's application will be in on time.
"We won't be handing it in a week early though, that's for sure," said Sharpe.
The Saskatchewan Winter Games are a week-long event, scheduled for mid-February 2010.
It's the province's largest amateur multi-sport event, with over 2,000 athletes participating.
Three other cities - Kindersley, Prince Albert and North Battleford - are also hoping to host the 2010 winter games.
Watrous recently cancelled its application because it could not find a suitable ski hill.

Lacey Sheppy can be reached at 691-1258.