By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

Tim Flick doesn’t have a chicken hat, a beer can outfit or one of those cow costumes with udders, but that has never stopped him from waxing up sleds every year for the U.S. National Toboggan Championship at the Camden Snow Bowl.

The outlandish competition has become a tradition for the Turner resident, who competes in two-, three- and four-man teams with his brother-in-law, Doug Pope of Warren, and friends from elsewhere in Maine and the Northeast.

“You’re rumbling down this chute, when it’s really cold, and you’re listening – it sounds like the (bobsled) race in the Olympics,” Flick said, doing his best to describe a typical shot down the icy, 400-foot toboggan run.

At the end of the chute, riders drop onto the frozen surface of Hosmer Pond, where they either overturn the toboggan to preserve the bottom or glide for hundreds of yards.

“Usually, you’re lying back looking up at the trees,” Flick said, explaining how teammates tuck in close for less air resistance.

Racers reach speeds between 30 and 45 miles per hour, often on homemade sleds that measure from 6 to 12 feet long. The toboggans must meet specific standards due to past experiments with materials like melted plastic jugs and exotic, heavy woods.

While Flick and his friends, who will be racing under the team names “Fat Bloated Idiots,” “Absolute Zeros” and “Bull-Hoss Fusiliers,” have graduated from using an old toboggan to hand-crafted vehicles, they could be due for something new.

Doug Pope chuckled at the thought. “We used to win. We used to do really well. But I think the technology has passed us by,” he said. “So now our goal is just to get out there and be a part of the scene.”

There’s plenty of scene. The costumes, the teammates and spectators camped on the ice with the portable grills. Food vendors and souvenirs. People on the sidelines ringing cow bells.

“Some people take it seriously,” said Snow Bowl administrative assistant Sarah Pfeiffer, but for most it’s just about fun.

The event, now in its 16th year, doubles as a fundraiser to support the Snow Bowl, which is run by the town’s parks and recreation department.

Pfeiffer said there are 400 teams signed up to race this weekend. Apart from the time trials, there are competitions in categories like “best team costume,” “fastest family” and “fastest all-female team.”

Vince Bemis of Rockport will race with Pope and Flick in both the three- and four-person events. He said people-watching is one of the best parts of the weekend, but there’s still the thrill of the race.

“You see the trees arching over you and you hear the sound of the sled and some of the crowd, then about 8 seconds later, you shoot out onto the pond,” he said. “The sensation at the bottom – you hear the sled rumbling on the ice (of the chute), but then for a beat – it’s silent – and you know you’re airborne.”

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