With the second annual Capitol Square Sprints event kicking off this Saturday, the streets of downtown Madison (WI) are buzzing and rumbling tonight with dump trucks bringing in manmade snow and workers building artificial hills out of metal staging and plywood. The excitement is tangible as spectators and excited racers from all over the country get ready for this weekend's long-anticipated events.

Madison receiving snow at the rate of 15 feet per minute
An incredible amount of work is going into the transformation of the city's streets around the capitol building from car-filled traffic lanes to groomed and tracked ski race course, where some of the nation's fastest skiers will be competing in the US SuperTour sprint races on Saturday and Sunday. Work was already well underway by 5pm Friday, with volunteers setting up the podium and start/finish banners and trucks delivering fences and building materials. Hammersly dump trucks began delivering load after load of Tyrol Basin's manmade snow around 6pm, and the course started to take shape.
 constructed of metal staging and plywood and standing roughly 10-12 feet tall at the high end of the ramps. These two hills present just enough of an obstacle that even the fastest skiers carrying a huge amount of momentum will have to adjust their rhythm and power output in order to maintain maximum speed. </p><p><BR><center><img src=)
Workers putting together a portable hill strong enough to drive a snowcat over and hold up to elite sprinters' fierce double pole pounding

 is that this is going to be another extremely exciting and fun event. For some, the mere thrill of being able to ski in the middle of a busy capitol city is enough to make it worth the trip. For others, it's a chance to demonstrate the power, speed, and fluidity of xc racing to thousands of first-time spectators while going head-to-head with some of the fastest skiers living in the country. </p><p>Stay tuned for a preview of Saturday evening's team sprint event and a look at some of the top contenders.</p><p><BR><center><img src=)



 around the outside</font></center><BR></p><p><BR><center><img src=)
Those who ski off the course can get a free self-service stonegrind

The snow is pretty filthy, but the word is they're bringing clean snow for the top layer.

The hotel has designated a very large room for waxing


