Summer ski jump marks 25th year at Fox River Grove club

A local boy made good Saturday at the Norge Ski Club's 25th annual summer ski jump tournament.

Kevin Bickner of Wauconda recorded the longest jumps in his age group Saturday, when four junior ski jumpers from the Midwest jumped onto a 40-meter hill at the Fox River Grove club.

The Norge Ski Club hosts tournaments throughout the year that draw elite jumpers from across the United States and Canada.

The cream of the crop faced off Saturday night in the first round of this weekend's supertour tournament. In the supertour, jumpers accumulate points throughout the year to compete for a cash prize.

Jumpers this weekend are competing for a piece of a $1,500 pot.

"Some of the best jumpers in the country are here," said Scott Smith, a volunteer and former coach at Norge. "If you don't have a supertour, they might say, 'Hey, I'm staying home.'"

While the supertour events do not qualify jumpers for the Olympics, the events draw many Olympic hopefuls, including Cary native Mike Glasder and Bickner, who competed in march in the Junior Olympics in Anchorage, Alaska.

This weekend's event is notable for the fact that there is not a flake of snow on the ground. To replicate the feel of a snow-covered slope, Norge volunteers lay down plastic mats and hose them down with water.

"Once it's properly wetted down, it has the same consistency as snow," said volunteer Charlie Sedivec, who hopes to mark 40 years as a colorful emcee of Norge events at the winter tournament. "If you were blindfolded, you wouldn't know the difference."

The supertour event continues from noon to 4 p.m. today. Jumpers will log a second round of jumps and receive prizes for their two-day results. Athletes will also face off in the long standing jump competition, in which distance is everything and style doesn't count.