Santa's Reindeer Begin Snowboarding

Welcome back to the Reindeer Games! Today, we begin the seventh event of the Games, the Snowboarding competition.

So far, gold medals have been awarded to Comet in the Speed Skating event, Blitzen for Ski Jumping, Dancer in Figure Skating, Dasher in the first-ever Luge competition, Donder for the High Jump, and just yesterday, Prancer won the Around-the-World race. A great job so far by all the reindeer!

Only two events are left now in this year’s Games, the Snowboarding competition and the Cross-Country Skiing event!

In the Snowboarding event, the reindeer will race their specially made snowboards down the side of a mountain as fast as they can. Today, all four will race, and the top four will race tomorrow for the gold medal! Snowboarding is a fun sport that many, many folks love all over the world. The sport was invented in the United States in the 1960s, and is a combination of skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing.

Snowboarding began in 1965 when a fellow named Sherman Poppen, from Michigan in the United States, put two skis together and attached a rope to one end, so he could guide his two young daughters down a snowy hillside. All the kids in the Poppen’s neighborhood loved the “snowboard” and wanted one too! Soon it became a very famous sport for millions of folks! Even for reindeer at the North Pole!

And so let’s see what’s happening in today’s race, out here at the North Pole. Jim, what’s happening?

“Thank guys! Ok, in the snowboard race, the reindeer must complete a downhill course with many turns and twists around what we call gates. A gate consists of two poles, connected by a panel. The reindeer must go around the gates and down the hill as fast as they can!”

Ok here we go! First up is Donder. Donder is at the start and ready to go. Donder is off! Donder is zooming down the course at great speed. Right and left and left right, beautifully around the gates. And down the course goes Donder. Donder is moving with great speed. And across the line is Donder in 37 seconds! A great time for Donder.

Next up is Vixen. Vixen is ready, and Vixen is off! Vixen is moving well. Left and right, right and left. Around the gates and down the hill goes Vixen. Vixen is moving well! A good time for Vixen, and Vixen is in at 39 seconds. Very good job by Vixen.

Dancer is next. And Dancer is off! Dancer is moving well down the course, around the gates and down, the course. And it’s a very good time for Dancer. Dancer is in at 35 seconds!

Dasher, Prancer, Comet, Cupid and Blitzen also make very good runs down the Snowboarding course!

And the top four for today are Donder, Vixen, Dancer and Comet! Those are your top four in the first round of the Snowboarding event. All four will race tomorrow for the seventh gold medal of the Games. Check back to see who wins!