SKOWHEGAN — Horses, skis and excitement came together in Skowhegan Saturday for the return of the town’s annual skijoring event.
It’s a sport where athletes are pulled on skis or snowboards behind a trusty steed, navigating jumps and other obstacles while also competing for the fastest lap time around a snowy track.
“You’ve got to follow the course, hit some jumps and go through some flags to score some points and get the shortest time you can,” said competitor Landon Rowe.
The competition closed out the town’s annual week-long winter festival known as Somerset Snowfest.
Organizers said skijoring is a crowd-pleaser, but it also gives the town a significant economic boost
“Skijor Skowhegan brings in about 3,000 people where people come and spend money,” said Kristina Cannon, president and CEO of Main Street Skowhegan. “I know some of our merchants actually triple their sales from any other day in the winter on Skijor Saturday.”
“I love how it brings out the community. We have so many people that volunteer,” she added.
Cannon said this is the seventh year Main Street Skowhegan has hosted the event.
“Skijor Skowhegan is Maine’s first and now one of three equestrian skijoring races, which is something that happens out west quite a bit,” said Cannon. “There’s dozens of them out west, but we were excited to bring it back to Maine.”
Athletes in Saturday’s competition were separated into two categories: novices and professionals.
“It looked like fun,” said Rowe. “I’ve been snowboarding since I was little, and I thought I should try it.”
Cannon said the idea for the event can be traced back to former Main Street Skowhegan employee Mary Haley, who was also the race director for Saturday’s event.
“She launched the idea when she worked for us at Main Street Skowhegan back in 2019,” said Cannon. “So, we’ve been going strong ever since.”
For an up-to-date list of winners and times, visit somersetsnowfest.org and click on 2026 live results.
