The Hairy Kahoonas are coming!

They won’t be alone. They will be accompanied by the Weapons of Gas Production. The Mount Washington Morons. The Geezers. The Pains in the Ash. Virginia Rednecks. Just Chute Me and The Trophy Wives.

Don’t be scared. These are just the names of the teams signed up for the 14th annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships at the Camden Snow Bowl, Feb. 6-8. While the rest of us huddle around the wood stove, 800 frozen lunatics will take the death-defying (all right, scary) 10-second, 45-mph run down the 400-foot wooden toboggan chute, sliding another 300 feet across Hosmer Pond for ice glory, the American Way and trophies, awarded to the fastest sled.

They will come from near. They will come from far (all the way from Rhode Island). The only rules are riders have to be slightly off center psychologically and dressed in some sort of garish garb.

For 51 weeks out of the year, Carol Sebold is a well-respected artist known for her Maine seascapes. For that remaining week, the first in February, she is the heart and soul of the Rift Rafters (not to be confused with riffraff) Toboggan Team.

The Rafters, in one form or another, have been on the mountain for each of the 14 toboggan races since the chute was rebuilt in 1991. The Rafters have entries in the two-, three- and four-person races.

Sebold grew up in Ohio where “everyone went tobogganing.” When the races started at the Snow Bowl, she thought the activity was a perfect winter diversion and an excuse for a weekend of parties with her scattered friends. The Rafters got their name from one of their first activities, river rafting in Colorado. Some of the team members live in Maine, part time or full time. The rest just wish they did, Sebold said.

“What’s neat about the races is that we have just as good a chance as anyone else. We are mostly older women but we have a good chance to win. That’s what makes it interesting,” she said.

The group is made up of retired scientists, artists and an active cardiac nurse, Vicki Harner of Portland, who may come in handy on the hair-raising trips downhill.

“It is the most amazing 10 seconds of the year. You never know where you are going. There is no steering. The slightest wrong movement will flip it,” Sebold said during practice runs at the mountain.

“How often can you enter a national competition?” the artist asked. The aim of the Rafters is to finish in the top half on Saturday to make the Sunday finals.

Most teams own their own toboggans. There are secret methods of sanding and waxing the bottoms (of the toboggans, not the riders) to make faster time. The Rafters chose sedate snowmobile suits rather than some of the more bizarre outfits for “aerodynamic reasons,” Sebold said.

The formula for winning the annual race is more based on voodoo than physics, according to Jack Williams, the spark plug for the return of the toboggan activity at the mountain.

“It’s not just the big guys who win. Weight alone won’t do it. One year, the Post Office got a crew together that topped 1,000 pounds and they didn’t do well. I don’t know the answer” to the winning formula, Williams confessed.

One successful team from Portland rents a U-Haul truck every year to keep their sleds hidden from competition while they coat the bottoms with their special waxes. They carry the toboggans on their shoulders instead of dragging them through the snow – also part of the ritual. But another team without experience from Portland took a rental sled with no special finishes or waxes and finished second in their division.

“Ignorance may be bliss,” Williams said.

The original chute was built in 1936, several years before downhill skiing came to the Snow Bowl.

In those days, every town with a hill worthy of the name built a toboggan chute. In Camden, the mountain was a Currier and Ives scene of skating, tobogganing, high school hockey and bonfires at water’s edge. With no television and video games, the toboggan chute was the center of the community during winter, Williams said. “As long as it didn’t go below zero, everyone had a good time,” he said.

When rope tows came to the mountain, downhill skiing pushed tobogganing to the back burner.

The chute had faded into oblivion by 1964. When the Snow Bowl faced tough tines in the 1980s, community support rallied to save the ski area and restore the toboggan chute. Williams talked the most so he was named to head the committee of 60 volunteers who worked on 10 Saturdays, spent $6,000 and restored the chute in 1991.

Ken Bailey then suggested toboggan races using the high-tech timing devices use for ski races.

Bailey, now a journalist, checked and found no other toboggan races in the country, so he dubbed the competition the U. S. National Championships. He said “No one disputed it, so we laid claim to the title and have kept it ever since.”

“No one ever expected it to grow to this level. Absolutely not,” Williams said.

The weekend is a boon to tourist-starved hotels, motels and restaurants.

Prizes are handed out for the two-, three- and four-person competition, the youngest and oldest competitors and, of course, the best costume.

Emmet Meara can be reached at emmetmeara@msn.com.

Toboggan Championships Events

Admission is free to watch the races. Parking is available at the Camden Snow Bowl. For more information, call 236-3438 or visit www.snowlbowl.com.

Friday, Feb. 6

Noon-7 p.m. Race check-in and toboggan inspections at Snow Bowl Lodge. Race souvenirs on sale.

11a.m.-7 p.m. Toboggan chute open (conditions permitting).

10a.m.-9 p.m. Snow Bowl open for skiing.

Saturday, Feb. 7

9 a.m.-noon. Qualifying runs for two- and three-person toboggan teams.

1p.m.-4 p.m. Qualifying runs for four-person teams.

5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Chili ‘n chowder supper at the Snow Bowl Lodge.

Sunday, Feb. 8

9 a.m. Qualifying runs for four-person teams.

Noon. Final races.

3 p.m. Awards ceremonies and drawings.