READFIELD — The snow conditions couldn’t be better for the annual Alpine ski race in memory of Marlee Johnston on Saturday at the O’Connor Alpine Training Center.

Ted Johnston, Marlee’s father, described the conditions as “fantastic.”

“In comparison to last year, we barely got the slopes open for the race with so little natural snowfall,” he said. “This recent storm has been great and should make the event even better.”

Registration is from 8 to 10 a.m., with a 10 a.m. start time. Middle school skiers in grades six through eight and high school skiers in grades nine to 12 will participate. There will be two timed runs per race.

Preregistration is required and available online at www.kentshill.org/marleerace.

Marlee Johnston was murdered at age 14 by a neighbor in 2005. Since 2006, a ski race has been held to celebrate her life and to raise money for the Marlee Fund. The fund supports the following:

• Scholarships for local day students to attend Kents Hill School, a private college preparatory high school, where Marlee had planned to enroll;

• Purchase of paperback books for the Marlee Reading Room at Winthrop Middle School library, where Marlee attended and was well known for her insatiable appetite for reading and learning;

• An annual Alpine ski race for middle- and high school-age skiers and the Marlee Ski Club at Kents Hill. The club, working with Kents Hill School, provides “hill time” for practice for the Maranacook and Winthrop school Alpine ski teams;

• Scholarships for young girls for summer camp at Camp Mechuwana and YMCA Camp, where Marlee attended;

• The Marlee Music Festival, featuring local musicians from Kents Hill, Maranacook and Winthrop schools. Marlee played piano, guitar and sang. Proceeds from the festival will be donated to the three school music programs; and

• Other programs and activities that contribute to the goals and purpose of the Marlee Fund.

“It is a wonderful race,” Johnston said. “It is an ‘open’ race, so any school-age skier can participate. It is early in the school ski race calendar, and a great opportunity for school race teams to get real race-like conditions and fine-tune their skills.”

Each athlete receives a commemorative T-shirt. The top five racers in each category receive medals.

Johnston said at least five middle school teams and at least two high school teams are expected, with at least 150 to 200 racers. Teams from Maranacook, Kents Hill, Camden, Auburn, Spruce Mountain and Oxford Hills have signed up.

For more race information, contact Bell at [email protected]. To learn about the Marlee Fund, visit marleefund.org.

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