As the “Voice of the U.S. National Toboggan Championships,” Tom Dowd has announced every race from the Ken Bailey Timing Hut since 2009. He has turned years of watching the event into his first children’s book, Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale. 

Dowd was inspired when his daughter, Erin, along with a team of three friends, won the “Student Division” championship in 2013. With the 2021 U.S. National Toboggan Championships cancelled due to the pandemic, Dowd still wanted to feel the spirit of the event, so he started writing this book as a loose interpretation based on his daughter’s team’s success.

“He wants to share the fun and excitement he sees every February with readers and show how special this event is for the Midcoast of Maine,” said a news release.

Illustrated by Sol Caponigro, a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Down the Chute: A Toboggan Tale takes readers on a pictorial and whimsical journey from the top of the toboggan chute to the heart of the crowd pulling for the racers. The book is for children ages four-to-ten years old.

What happens when adventurous little girls find a toboggan and a mountain? They learn to overcome fear, work as a team, and seek the thrill of the ride. Ultimately, it is a girls’ success story. It is set in Maine with references to the coastal villages of Camden and Rockport and the U.S. National Toboggan Championships.

The book was published locally by Maine Authors Publishing (MAP).

Copies are available through MAP (https://maineauthorspublishing.com/bookshop/), at transformationtom.com, in select local bookstores, and on Amazon.

Books will be available at the U.S. National Toboggan Championships scheduled for February 11-13, 2022. Proceeds from books bought at the event will go toward the Camden Snow Bowl’s annual operating expenses.

Dowd is available for book signings, book readings, and media appearances.

Thomas Dowd can be contacted at 207-596-3217 or tom@transformationtom.com.