"Time for an update on the weather: Crystal-clear conditions have been predicted in tomorrow's forecast, making it the perfect conditions to start this whole circuit off right. The first race event of this year's competition will take place tomorrow morning, and we'll be right here to keep you informed on everything that goes on. Good luck to all of our veteran and rookie competitors!"

After the extravagant event that was the opening ceremony, Judy found herself dying of anticipation for the event that would serve as the beginning of the competition. Although a small portion of her was nervous regarding how she would do in tomorrow morning's race, a large fraction of her thoughts remained optimistic.

For the time being, however, she decided to temporarily dismiss her concerns about the tournament. Nighttime officially the mountain and the slopes, and Judy currently was making her way over to the inn that she would be staying in throughout her time here.

Finally making her way up to where her suite was located, she unlocked the door with the key she was given and stepped inside. Setting the bags that she had been carrying down on the carpeted flooring, she decided to have a good look around her room.

The size of the room was a lot larger than Judy had previously expected it to be. The walls had been painted in a nice gray color, and an array of complimentary decorations surrounded her in basically every available spot. But the thing that had caught the gray doe's attention the most was a large window by where her bed was, looking out at the glorious mountains and the like.

Once she had gotten her bags unpacked, she decided to call her parents just to let them know that she had made it safely to her lodging. After she finished talking to them, Judy thought it best to get some sleep in preparation for the big day that awaited her.

The leporine laid down on the bed, now feeling relaxed as could be. As she her closed her eyes and slowly dozed off into sleep, her dreams were filled with images of what her mind thought tomorrow's big race would be like.

The Next Day...

Judy sat right at her starting gate in a small state of nervousness. Peaking her head upward, she could see the numbers on the giant screen that served as the countdown clock above her slowly ticking down.

The minute section of the clock went from ten to nine, and the doe took a deep breath and tried not to fill her mind up with too much agitation. She knew that filling her brain with concerns could potentially lead to her not doing as well, but the steadily decreasing numbers didn't help her out in the slightest.

"You're gonna do fine," she said to herself. "All you gotta do is just-"

"You got the jitters, too?" a voice called out to the lagomorph's right, making her jump a little.

Judy looked over in the direction of who had just spoke to her, her eyes seeing a red fox that was positioned only two starting gates away from where she was.

As he gazed back over at her, he said, "Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of. Even I get a little bit nervous before events like this."

Faintly smiling back at the tod, she replied, "At least I know I'm not the only one who is."

The russet-tailed vulpine replied, "All of us here probably get a little bit nervous at times, even if we lie about it and say we don't. Just do your-"

"I'd say that it's best if that rabbit just gives up now," a female voice interrupted. "Would save her from some unwanted embarrassment."

The mammal that had thrown the rhetoric in Judy's direction was an arctic vixen, her paws crunching against the tall snowfall as she walked over to the starting gate that was in between the fox and rabbit.

Well, Judy thought, she's definitely not the friendly type.

Although the words were supposed to bring her down or make her feel intimidated, the doe simply shrugged them off. She knew quite well going into the competition that not everyone in the community was a good sport.

Judy looked back up at the countdown clock another time, seeing that there now only two minutes left until the first racing event commenced. As she got herself situated and ready to begin, she started to see some of the other boarders that were participating coming into view.

The first competition that she caught sight of was a young timber wolf, a wide grin written against his muzzle as he snowboarded his way forward. Trekking a few feet behind that seemingly happy canid was weasel.

The next participant Judy saw was a polar bear riding a snowboard that looked like it was made out of some sort of see-through material. From a distance, the transparent board made it appear as if he were across the snow on nothing but his large paws, right up until he got closer into view and the illusion was dispelled.

Last but definitely not least was a honey badger. the stern look she was wearing sent Judy a signal that she came here to win.

Within only one minute on the countdown left to spare, all of the other snowboarders made their way over to their starting gates. When the electronic screen above them finally reached zero, the synth-based dance music coming from the speakers suddenly stopped playing.

Not even a few seconds after this happened, everyone present was greeted with the sounds of the crowds starting to cheer from they were seated.

Over the loudspeakers surrounding Judy and the others, a female voice announced, "Ladies and gentlemammals, welcome to the first racing event of this year's tournament!"

The shouting of the spectators got even louder with that announcement. Shortly after the noise had died down, the voiceover went on to name each individual contest who was present.

When it reached Judy's name, the audience's cheering grew louder than it had been for any of the others. At this, the leporine couldn't do anything else but smile and take in all of their applause.

The clock above them became illuminated once again, this time with only twenty seconds. As the number gradually ticked lower, the many voices in the crowd counted down alongside it.

Judy gripped onto the bars on the sides of the starting gates, her heart feeling like it was going to beat right out of her chest. In just a few seconds, the moment she had always been waiting for was going to be her reality.

Here goes nothin', she told herself.

In the corner of her eye, she saw the red fox that had spoken to her just a few moments ago looking at her with his head leaned over.

"By the way, my name's Nick, he said. "Good luck out there."

Judy nodded her head. "Good luck to you as well," she replied.

3…

2…

1…

At the sound of a starting pistol being blankly fired, the starting gates were suddenly opened and all of the snowboarders started to make their descent down the hill.

It had not even been one minute into the race, and Judy was barely managing to stay in third place. In the corner of her vision, she could see the figure of the one weasel competitor that was part of the race. He was currently only a few spaces away from passing the doe up, leaving her in fourth place.

A red grind rail gradually started to come into view, and lagomorph quickly hatched the idea of using to help her gain a little bit of speed. She slid across it on her snowboard once she had gotten close to it, and her plan turned out to be successful.

With that weasel no longer on her tail like that, her mind went back to the solitary goal of simply doing her best on the slope.

A good distance away from her were the figures of the fox named Nick and that arctic vixen that had tried to throw a taunt at her before. But it didn't exactly concern that she wasn't the one that was in first place. This race was technically referred to as a qualifying race, meaning that it was only whoever came in dead last that would not be able to continue.

A jump started to come into the bunny's view, and she could nothing else except look at it with awe she continued to glide forward.

Sweet cheese and crackers, she thought as she got closer to it.

Compared to all of the other jumps that she had seen on much small tracks before, this one went down in her personal record books as the largest one that she had probably ever seen in her life.

Judy braced herself and got ready for the jump. As she freely flew over it and into the air, she did a move that she had been quite familiar with. She grabbed the front tip of her snowboard with her one paw, doing the move that she knew quite well as the nose grab.

The doe could feel a piercingly cold rush of wind hit her fur as she started to reach the ground again. Once she was back on the snow, she grinned the widest she ever had in quite some time.

"Woo-hoo!" she whooped, her breath visible in the cold.

For the next minute or so, Judy maintained her spot in third place as she simply navigated her way around the track, dodging an obstacle or to whenever it came about.

"Catch me if ya can, Cottontail!" a voice said from behind her.

Peering around her shoulder for not even a second, she saw the weasel that she had passed up earlier starting to pick up speed. A good distance away from him was the timber wolf and polar bear. The honey badger was barely even visible, and last place seemed to be her fate.

"What the-" Judy muttered out loud.

The gray doe now found herself coming up to yet another jump, only this one was a lot less tall than the one she had been across. On the left side of it was another grind rail that had been painted in a shade of blue. And on the right side, a few spaces before the jump, was a sign with an arrow on it, pointing to what Judy knew was one of the shortcuts she would end up finding throughout the circuit.

The mustela cut in front of her, making a sharp turn as he defended down the shortcut's path with a laugh. He believed that it was going to get further down the path in a quicker amount of time, but Judy knew better. Having watched the coverage of this tournament's races from previous years, she knew that the shortcuts didn't have any effect, and sometimes even slowed down a mammal with more obstacles.

Judy did another grab trick when she glided over the jump, bending her knees to lift the snowboard behind her back and grabbing the edge of it with her other paw.

The doe could hear the faint sounds of applause growing louder once she hit the snow-covered ground again.

The sign illuminating the finish line in a bright orange glow started to come into view. With that, Judy swiftly made her way around the next few turns that lead up to it. Within her vision, she could see that the russet vulpine had just came in second. The unfriendly vixen had obviously been the one to come in first place.

As the bunny crossed the finish line and came to a stop, the cheering filled her ears.

"Well, it looks like the rabbit actually placed in third," the vixen taunted over the noise. "Quite hard to believe."

It was evident to Judy that she received some sort of enjoyment out of throwing remarks and the like at others.

"Hey, don't listen to her," a familiar voice said from her other side.

The bunny turned around to see that red fox she now knew was called Nick standing there. "You did great out there," the vulpine told her.

"Thanks," Judy replied, smiling back at him. "Who is that vixen anyway?"

Nick responded, "Her name is Skye. She's won first place more times than any other competitor in the history of this circuit. She basically thinks of this place as her personal stomping grounds because of that."

The gray doe nodded at the red fox's clarifying explanation. "I see."

She turned her head around to see some of the other snowboarders finally making their way to the finish line. The next one to cross was the timber wolf, who pumped a fist in the air and let out a howl.

"Wolford in fourth place!" a voiceover announced to the crowds.

For coming in fourth, he seems pretty excited, Judy thought. I guess he's just really happy to be a part of this.

Up next was the weasel that had used the shortcut earlier. It became apparent that taking said path resulted in him being passed up by the canid and him coming in fifth place. Trailing behind him was the polar bear that was riding the cool transparent board.

Another announcement rung out around them. "Weaselton in fifth, and Snarlov in sixth."

Both mammals grunted under their breath, equally expressing their disappointment in their performances.

A few moments later, the honey badger slowly made her way down. Knowing that she was going to be eliminated from this portion of the competition, she was in less of a hurry to cross the finish line.

"Landed flat on my tail so many times, I thought I broke it!" she uttered to herself.

When she reached the end of the course, the speakers rung out, "Honey in last place!"

The honey badger face-pawed, knowing that losing this qualifying race meant that she would not be proceeding any further in the circuit.

Smiling ever-so-brightly, Judy turned her attention away from the others and listened to the crowds as they stated to cheer her name. However, her current moment of celebration only lasted for so long when another announcement came through, informing the remaining competitors that the next event would be starting in only fifteen minutes.