The TNSAR Team has full tax-exempt status and is incorporated in California. Donations may be tax-deductible; the teams non-profit tax ID is #94-2737988.

Cash Donation Levels and Descriptions

All race sponsors will receive the following basic benefits from their involvement with The Great Ski Race^®:

• Unrivaled exposure potential for the Truckee/North Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, Reno and Bay area communities
• Your company logo displayed on The Great Ski Race^® sponsors page
• Your company logo on the event flyer and poster
• Your company logo or name printed on the race T-shirts
• Your company listed in our post-event acknowledgement and thank you ad in the local newspaper
• Potential exposure from video footage shown on local cable television and coverage on local news programs. A concerted effort will be made to entice regional television and local interest programs to cover the event.
• Contribution to a highly visible winter athletic event in the Lake Tahoe area
• Financial advantages for assisting a non-profit tax-exempt organization, the TNSAR Team

The following four levels of sponsorship participation are currently defined for The Great Ski Race^®:

In-kind sponsorship provides products, equipment, or services in lieu of cash; this would include food/beverage donations, and services. Donations of food and beverage products to give to the racers before, during, and after the race are always desired. Items in particular that we need include: cookies, soda water, non-alcoholic beverages, energy snacks, soup, bread, yogurt, and other healthy foods. In-kind donations that replace necessary merchandise or services that would normally be purchased for producing The Great Ski Race^® may be given additional sponsorship value.

Competitive and Division Prizes are awarded in the categories as shown below. If you have services or products which could be used as prizes for any of the following categories, please help us with your donation; 48 prizes in total are required.

• First Place Nordic Finishers, Male and Female
• Second Place Nordic Finishers, Male and Female
• Third Place Nordic Finishers, Male and Female
• 11 age classes for Nordic First, Second, and Third Place Finishers, Male and Female
• Single prize donations are also needed and are used for a prize drawing at the end of the race.

Should you have better sponsorship ideas, products, or services which can be of benefit to us in putting on the best possible The Great Ski Race^® event, please feel free to make offers and suggestions, as we are open to your input.

Sponsorship Deadlines

The negotiable deadlines for the sponsorships are as follows. These deadlines are required only so that it allows us sufficient time to plan and manage the race with sufficient fiscal satisfaction of the material race requirements.

• Peak Sponsor January 17th
• Summit Sponsor January 17th
• Alpine Sponsor January 31st
• Timberline Sponsor February 9th
• In-kind or cash donations February 23rd

The Great Ski Race^® has consistently been the largest cross-country ski event in the U.S., west of the Mississippi. It is produced entirely by volunteers from the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team and the local community. This event is a testament to the dedication of this non-profit group and is one of the high points on the Tahoe winter activities calendar and the annual Tahoe Snow Festival.

The Great Ski Race^®

The annual The Great Ski Race^® is the main fund raising event for the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team (TNSAR), a non-profit all-volunteer organization based in the North Lake Tahoe/Truckee area since 1976.

The success of The Great Ski Race^® is evident in the numbers: race participation has gone from 60 racers being manually timed in 1977, to more than 600 racers with electronic timing in 1985, to 994 racers in 2003. Since 1983, racer registration has always surpassed 598, with the highest turnout of 1109 registered racers in 2005.

The Great Ski Race^® has grown to consistently be one of the largest Nordic ski races west of the Mississippi, with Nordic skiers competing along a spectacular 26km route from the Tahoe Cross Country Center near Tahoe City, around Mt. Watson and returning to the Tahoe Cross Country Center. While the race is a test of strength and endurance, each year we continue to attract plenty of recreational Nordic skiers who return year after year simply for a fun day with some effective exercise through some amazing scenery. The entertainment not only includes the race, but also the post-race activities which include live music and hot food prepared at the finish line.

Each year the funds required to organize and present The Great Ski Race^® has grown; financial resources are required to cover such items as registration, T-shirts, bibs, prizes, activities and refreshments. Your support in sponsoring The Great Ski Race^® is greatly appreciated by the TNSAR team and all the racers that participate each year in TGSR.

We fully expect the visibility of The Great Ski Race^® web page to continue to mature, offering an effective vehicle to provide Sponsorship identification for strong association with The Great Ski Race^® event (with T-shirts, paper registration, and the start and finish area being other options for Sponsorship identification).

The TNSAR Team

The Great Ski Race^®is organized entirely by TNSAR team members along with local community supporters. Race proceeds are used primarily to purchase equipment for the TNSAR Team, and to support winter survival and avalanche education programs sponsored and conducted by the Team.

Each year the TNSAR Team presents The Winter Wilderness Survival Program to all the North Lake Tahoe and Truckee 4th grade students, designed exclusively by the TNSAR Team and given on school grounds. Additionally, in 2002 the TNSAR team released their first professionally prepared video “Winter Aware”, with participation from local professional skiers and boarders, intended specifically for high school kids to educate them on the importance of Winter safety and survival. The video has received extensive coverage in the school systems of the Tahoe Basin, the greater Reno area, and also the Bay Area, with extremely positive feedback. Free copies have been distributed to all High Schools in Northern California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Washington, and Oregon to date.

The TNSAR team is well organized, highly motivated, completely non-profit, and all volunteer. Since 1977 the goals remain the same: Conducting fast, safe rescues and educating the public on winter safety.

Conceived in 1976, the Team now boasts over 100 members who fulfill numerous functions, including:

• rescuing lost alpine and cross-country skiers
• locating downed aircraft
• rescuing stranded hikers and climbers
• educating the public about mountain safety
• other support functions

The Team has EMT’s, emergency room nurses, firefighters, professional ski patrollers, paramedics, and MD’s as active members. The level of medical, mountain, and skiing skills among the members is very high. To date, the TNSAR Team has located over 680 individuals; many of these have been patrons of a ski resort that have strayed from the area’s boundary into unfamiliar and rugged mountain terrain. The majority of these searches (and rescues) have historically occurred at night and during blizzards. The TNSAR Team has conducted searches originating from most all of the Lake Tahoe ski areas, with a 100% success rate for finding these lost recreationists.

The TNSAR Team works with a number of agencies, including Sheriff’s Departments of Placer, Nevada, El Dorado, Washoe, Douglas, and Toulumne Counties, WOOF and CARDA search dogs, OES, American Red Cross, Civil Air Patrol, Naval Air SAR, and the California Highway Patrol.

Thank you for your interest and consideration; we hope that this information will help you to decide to participate in The Great Ski Race^® as a sponsor. If you have further sponsorship questions, or would like more information about The Great Ski Race^® or the Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue Team, please contact us via email.