1,400 women attend ski event in Anchorage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Organizers of the Alaska Ski for Women said about 1,400 women, some in costumes such as Minnie Mouse and giant vegetables, turned out for the annual event.

The organizers said women and girls ranging in age from grandmothers to preschool, as well as some pregnant women, took on the 2.4-mile cross-country skiing course Sunday at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.

Event founders Sally Burkholder and Ann Mize, who skied the course twice along with about three dozen others, said the fastest skiers finished their first run in about 11 minutes, while some took more than an hour and many chose not to be timed.

Costumes spotted at the event included Minnie Mouse, Pippi Longstocking, sock monkeys, puffins, jellyfish, giant vegetables, elements of the periodic table and a woman sporting a caution sign warning she was 36 weeks pregnant.

"You don't see a single person that isn't smiling," event committee Chairwoman Robin Kornfield said.