Photos by Joe Kline / The BulletinRacers leave the starting line of the Great Harvest New Year’s Day Relay on Wednesday at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Ski Center.

MOUNT BACHELOR — Lew Becker raced down the course at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Ski Center on Wednesday, outfitted with a logger’s helmet, suspenders and an ax strapped to his back. Becker said it was not difficult to ski in the outfit, and he covered the sharp edges of the ax with duct tape.

“But I did fall on the first corner, and I was afraid it was going to be an ax murder,” Becker said.

Becker and approximately 50 other skiers hit the course to compete in the Great Harvest New Year’s Day Relay, which raises money for the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation.

The nonprofit trains and supports athletes who compete in nordic and alpine skiing, snowboarding and cycling.

Nordic Program Director Dan Simoneau said Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation has held the annual event for at least a decade.

“It’s just a fun race,” Simoneau said. “Almost everybody wears costumes.”

Becker was part of a team called The Christmas Tree Hunters. Another member of the team had a cardboard model of a chainsaw attached to his back, and a woman on the team dressed as the tree, using pieces of her own Christmas tree.

Jason Adams said his team, which included friends Jason Tedroe and Marshall Greene, dressed as rock stars and called themselves J Ski/G Ski, after the band AC/DC. Adams, who dressed as Billy Idol, sported extra-large Miley Cyrus brand stretch pants, a shaggy wig and a low-cut black and pink T-shirt.

The three-person ski teams completed one leg of classic cross country skiing and two legs of skate skiing. The youngest competitors, kids up to 9 years old, did one lap for each leg of the race. Kids from 10 to 13 completed two laps for every leg of the race, and all the remaining skiers did three laps for each leg of the race.

“That almost makes it even,” Simoneau said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, hborrud@bendbulletin.com