There was also more interest shown in the sliding sports — skeleton and luge. The sliding events were made possible to Utahns because of the bobsled track at the Utah Olympic Park. The only other track in the United States is in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Speedskating, made possible because of the Olympic Oval in Kearns, is also attracting more participants.

"We're also seeing the return of some events and venues," Hughes said. "We're still working on getting hockey back in the Games. We've also added some speedskating events at the new Park City ice arena. Wolf Mountain (formerly Nordic Valley) is back with us and will be holding some skiing and snowboarding events."

Popular last year, and expected to be so again this winter, was the friends and family ski race. The age range of competitors last year, skiing on a modified giant slalom course, was 3 to 90.

As part of the effort to reinstate hockey, the Utah Grizzlies will be holding a Utah Winter Games homecoming on Dec. 30. There are a number of special activities planned for past participants of the Winter Games.

One new program is called WinterFit.

It is, said Hughes, a team-based competition "to provide motivation to those interested in a healthy lifestyle."

Teams can range from two to 10 people and can be family members, friends or colleagues. Competition is based in two areas: accumulated weight loss and/or number of minutes spent in an activity. Participants can register and report online and will compete against other teams.

"Activities can be those in the Utah Winter Games," Hughes said, "the idea being that while earning points for your team, you are also doing something active, something you may want to incorporate into your lifestyle."

A similar event in Iowa drew more than 33,000 participants.

Based on a 2005 study, even though Utahns are among the most fit people in the United States, 58 percent are still overweight or obese. And, it was found that one-third of the American population is involved in no physical activity during the winter.

"We hope WinterFit provides a fun, motivational way for people to think about being active in the winter," Hughes said.

She even noted that the Utah staff is looking at the possibility of offering summer clinics for events such as skating.

The Utah Winter Games give Utahns a wide range of active winter opportunities and even go so far as to provide how-to clinics to aspiring Olympic athletes.

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