Toboggan teams shoot the chute at national championships in Camden

CAMDEN – Office Monkeys, The Von Trap Family and Quack Attack were a few of the hundreds of teams from across the country and around the world that competed in the 17th annual National Toboggan Championships this weekend in Camden.

The fastest times were just over 81/2 seconds, and some toboggans zipped over the finish line at more than 45 miles per hour.

The toboggan national championship is the largest fundraiser that the Snow Bowl holds each year, Jeff Kuller, general manager of the Snow Bowl and director of the Camden Parks and Recreation department, said. Participants paid $25 for a seat in the competition. The town of Camden also contributed to the fundraiser.

“We appreciate the support for the mountain,” he said.

Teams waited in line for hours for their few seconds of fame.

“Your toes would freeze,” Olga Gourianov, a first-year staffer at the Snow Bowl, said.

The chute, lined with several inches of ice, is an impressive 400 feet long and dumps the toboggans onto Hosmer’s Pond. The pond wasn’t frozen over two weeks ago, but 27-degree temperatures Saturday kept it solid and ready to go.

Timing is done electronically: The toboggan and its passengers pass a sensor at the top and again at the bottom. The toboggans sit on a “trapdoor” contraption that tilts down and releases the sleds onto the chute.

“It’s fun. Quite a rush,” Andy Hazen, a member of the Free Beer team of Lincolnville, said. “But you kind of have to experience it for yourself.”

The chute master, Stuart Young, spends several nights from midnight to 4 a.m. before the competition “icing” the chute for the big weekend.

The unseasonably warm temperatures discouraged people from registering for the event early this year, but with the recent wave of cold weather and the extension of the sign-up date, 80 percent of the slots were filled.

Teams were allowed to practice on Friday. Qualifying runs were held during the day Saturday and Sunday morning. The finals for the top 75 quad teams, top 30 triple teams and top 30 double teams were held on Sunday afternoon. Awards were handed out at a ceremony after the finals.

Many take the event seriously, waxing their toboggans, planning their strategy and plotting to make their next run better, while others try to achieve the slowest time.

“We hope to win, but if we don’t, we still have a good time,” said Portland’s Lisa Martin of her four-sister team Fanny Friction.

Many teams wore costumes, Ninja Turtles and Care Bears among the most colorful.

The California Earthquakes and a Pound of Stone came all the way from California and Seattle, respectively, to shoot the chute. The Austronauts had members from Australia and Austria.

Shirley and Jim Eaton of New Durham, N.H., were among the many spectators at the side of the chute. The competition for them is “a weekend to get away.” They were staying at the Samoset Resort and like the carnival atmosphere at the toboggan nationals.

Vans and trailers were set up for tailgating around the base of the chute. A large group from the University of Iowa and their Hawkeyes team even had a pig roast.

Dog sled rides were scheduled to run all weekend, but four-wheelers and snowmobiles on the pond made the dogs too nervous.

A boy was taken to the hospital after falling and hitting his head on the tubing hill. A tobogganer was hit by a sled after he failed to get out of the way after his run. Another sled hit an ice-fishing shack that had been placed on the pond that morning.

“When you get 5,000 people together, there’s bound to be accidents,” Camden Snow Bowl staffer Garth Holman said.

Placing for the toboggan races is determined by adding the best time trial and the finals time together.

Winners for the two-person toboggan were Faster Ash Lugers, 17.33 seconds; for the three-person toboggan Going Downhill Faster, 17.26 seconds; and for the four-person toboggan The Four Wingnuts, 17.23 seconds.

Complete results can be found at www.camdensnowbowl.com under the Activities menu and the title Toboggan Nationals.