Fischer Skis is giving Portland Nordic a $5,000 grant to add more lighting at Riverside Golf Course for a 2-kilometer loop for nighttime cross-country skiing, Portland Nordic announced Wednesday.

Fischer Skis has promised a $2,500 grant – and an additional $2,500 that requires a $2,500 match – for a project that is estimated to cost $10,000, said Michael Collin, the director of Portland Nordic, a nonprofit that works with youth to grow the sport in southern Maine.

The lights will illuminate the North Course, which includes the 18th fairway, and will not interfere with the summer golf season.

Currently, only the ice rink is lighted at the public golf course in the winter, but the roughly 6.5 kilometers of cross-country ski trails that are groomed by the city of Portland are not. The Nordic trails are free to the public.

Portland Nordic hopes to offer the lighted course seven days a week, Collin said.

Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall, who is sponsored by Fischer, will join Portland Nordic in the presentation of the grant at 5 p.m. on Oct. 14 at the golf course.

Randall is a five-time Olympian with 17 U.S. National titles. She resides in Alaska, where she is the executive director of the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage.

“Portland Nordic is doing awesome work and we’re thrilled to be able to help them with this lighting project,” Fischer Skis Marketing Director Brian Landrigan said in a news release. “They’ve cultivated a really strong community there in Maine, and we can’t wait to see how they turn out for this event.”

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