A block of Campustown will be transformed into a winter sports course this weekend.

Iowa State’s Ski and Snowboard Club is hosting the fifth ISU Rail Jam competition from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday in the middle of Campustown.

Chamberlain Street between Welch and Stanton avenues will be completely blocked off for the event. Organizers fill the entire street with snow to construct ramps and obstacles for participants to perform on.

Special snow — free of salt and sand — is hauled in from the Ames airport.

“Thirty guys and girls build it up to make something you would see on a Breckenridge [ski resort] hillside,” said Clayton Severson, senior in biochemistry and Rail Jam event coordinator for the Ski and Snowboard Club.

Because there is no steep incline to provide momentum for the riders, competitors gain speed from a gas-powered engine called a winch. Riders hold onto a ski rope attached to a spool, which propels them up the jump and onto the rails.

This is the fifth year ISU Rail Jam has taken place in Campustown. The club wasn’t able to host the event last year, due to time constraints and funding issues.

Severson said the problems presented in 2009 taught him what was necessary to make the event successful this year.

The club made some changes in this year’s event, including higher quality snow, a different setup of the rails, and an 18-and-older after-party hosted by Club Element.

Funding for the event is mainly provided by GSB, Campustown, and Wilson Scion of Ames.

Severson said the club contacted resorts, colleges and ski clubs to inform them about the event.

“In years past we’ve had people from Nebraska, Chicago and Minnesota,” Severson said. “Somehow they just hear about these things.”

David Pricco, vice president of the ski and snowboard club at the University of Iowa, competed in the event two years ago and plans to participate again this year.

“It’s a unique event that you don’t see much around this area,” Pricco said. “A lot of other competitions aren’t in the middle of downtown, so it’s a little more exciting. There’s a better backdrop.”

Pricco said he hopes the competition will challenge negative stereotypes of snowboarders.

“It’s good to kind of get people aware and show them that we’re not just hoodlums and we have talent,” Pricco said.

Winners of the competition will be awarded a year’s supply of Red Bull, season passes to Seven Oaks ski area, or ski and snowboard apparel.

Severson said they are still unsure who will judge the event.

“That’s the least of my concern,” Severson said. “It’s mainly to have a good time.”

Severson said the club members hope the event will make the sport look fun and further promote skiing and snowboarding.

Kale Snavely, sophomore in geology, has participated in rail jams in Des Moines and Dubuque and plans to compete in the ISU event.

Although winning isn’t the focus, Snavely said, competitions push riders to try tricks they wouldn’t normally try.

“It’s fun. It’s progressive, because you build off other people,” he said.

Although he didn’t participate in the last ISU Rail Jam, Snavely said watching the competition was a fun experience.

There is no pre-registration for the event. Preliminaries are from 3 to 6 p.m. Severson said this time will allow participants to get acquainted with the course and judges and club members to narrow down the competitors to about 20 for the final competition from 6 to 8 p.m.

Severson said the competition will take place regardless of adverse weather.