SKIING / Bob Lochner : Racers Actually Go for the Gold

Skiers will get a chance to race for an ounce of gold Sunday at Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort. All they have to do is cover 50 kilometers faster than the competition.

The winning male and female finishers in the Subaru California Gold Rush Marathon will each receive one ounce of gold, worth about $400.

This is the ninth and final race in the 1990 Great American Ski Chase and the only one in California. Several elite Nordic skiers are competing in at least four of the events to become eligible for overall awards in the series. Only a racer’s four best results are counted.

Previous events on the long trail, which began on Jan. 27, were at Waterville Valley, N.H.; Traverse City, Mich.; Warren, Minn.; Bemidji, Minn.; Hayward, Wis.; Tabernash, Colo.; Anchorage, Alaska, and West Yellowstone, Mont.

Most of the field of about 600 entrants Sunday will be “citizen” racers--or recreational skiers--many of whom will choose to cover only the first loop around the 25-kilometer track on Donner Summit--for which separate Silver Rush medals will be awarded.

Registration will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. today. The mass start is set for 9 a.m. Sunday.

Royal Gorge is located near Soda Springs, just off Interstate 80, in the Sierra east of Sacramento.

Closer to home this weekend are two events scheduled in the San Bernardino Mountains:

--At Snow Summit, the fourth and final meet in the Southern California Pro Ski Tour will be held today.

--At Snow Valley, all skiers 18 or over are eligible to race in the Sinutab Ski Classic for prizes that include ski equipment, and everyone who even tries the course will automatically be entered in a random end-of-season drawing for the grand prize of a trip for two to the Bahamas.

Skiing Notes

The Alpine World Cup circuit winds up this weekend at Are, Sweden. . . . A couple of early-warning dates for ski racing fans who like to plan ahead: The 1991 World Alpine Ski Championships will be held next Jan. 21-Feb. 3 at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, and the Winter Olympics are set for Feb. 8-23, 1992 at Albertville, France. . . . The annual Ski Industries America trade show opens a six-day run Monday in Las Vegas.

Greg Lyle of Belmont Shores led Beach Cities Ski Club to victory in the Jeep National Ski Club Far West regional final recently at Mammoth Mountain. Other members of the Manhattan Beach team, which will compete in the national final April 4-8 at Keystone, Colo., are Sandy Hogan, John Milne, Doug Nordmeyer, Jodi Melton and Ellen Volholm. . . . The last races in the Jeep/Eagle Challenge series for recreational skiers will be held today at Kirkwood Cross Country Center and Sunday at Heavenly Valley.

About 125 teams are competing at Alpine Meadows this week in the 10th annual Corporate Ski Challenge. The team giant slalom was held Friday and the individual giant slalom is scheduled today. . . . The Southern California regional final in the Ski Classic corporate series is scheduled for March 23-25 at Mammoth Mountain, with top teams advancing to the national final April 6-8 at Snowmass, Colo.