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photo: Courtesy New Dubh Linn Gate

When Whistler was passed over as a venue for the 1976 Winter Olympic Games — its second such indignity, having also lost out for 1968 — this small town in the stunning, snowy Coast Mountains went into training. It poured its resources into infrastructure and reputation development, turning itself into a stronger, prettier, richer destination — the municipal equivalent of an international playboy athlete, with the bravado and game to back it up. By the time Vancouver, its big-city neighbor some 78 miles to the south, submitted its 2010 bid, the IOC could hardly say no — thanks in no small part to Whistler and its reinvention as a skiing colossus. But Whistler doesn’t really need the Olympics to hold Olympic-caliber events. That kind of stuff goes on all the time, from world championships of various downhill stripes to everyday athletic feats.

And for the truly intrepid, Whistler has a host of other challenges — the kind that combine the city’s adventuresome sensibilities with the Olympic credo of citius, altius, fortius (swifter, higher, stronger) to forge an entirely different breed of Olympic-style competition. And yes, almost all of the events feature drinking.

Here, our gallery of Whistler's Other Games ...