February 2008 — VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2
Target in sight at Velocity Challenge
180 km/h. That’s the target for Unlimited class racers in
the upcoming 2008 Subaru Velocity Challenge speed skiing event, to be held Mar.
5 to 8 at Sun Peaks Resort.
The fastest anyone has gone in a speed ski race
is 251.4 km/h, which makes speed skiing the fastest non-motorized sport on earth,
though racers at Sun Peaks won’t hit those numbers.
“We’re always
really looking for 180 km/h,” says local racer Kenny Dale. “That’s
what we want to get out of this track.”
The 2008 Subaru Velocity Challenge
at Sun Peaks is the only North American stop on the FIS World Cup speed ski circuit,
and for years the goal of 180 km/h has tantalized the world-class racers who compete
here.
Dale, who won both the Velocity Challenge and FIS World Cup Gold at Sun
Peaks last year—his first World Cup win—says even getting within one
or two km/h of 180 would be an accomplishment. Since he’s the guy who set
a Sun Peaks track record of 177.21 km/h about five years ago, such a feat would
eclipse one of his own records.
Justin Garey, another Sun Peaks racer, could
be the person who does that. He set an all time Canadian record two years ago
in Les Arcs, France, with a blistering run of 234.83 km/h. However, that year,
he and his fiancé were the only Canadians competing at the French track,
which happens to be five times as long as the Sun Peaks“Headwall Track,”
and conditions were unusually fast. This year he expects a less spectacular outcome.
“I don’t expect to win,” he said. “But I’m always aiming
for top 10.”
180. Top 10. Those seem like reasonable goals. Speed skiing,
however, is not a reasonable sport. Cutting a body-sized hole in the air at more
than 170 km/h is not an easy task, and competing at that level requires exceptional
physical and mental strength.
Speed skiers are typically older than slalom
and downhill racers, says Garey, who is 33 (Dale is 44). A little middle-aged
weight doesn’t hurt the quest for speed when you’re going down a steep
hill, he admits, and the mental fitness an athlete acquires after years of practice
can be more important even than the physical toughness it takes to maintain a
tight tuck on a nearly vertical track in a hurricane wind. “It’s the
most intense isometric workout ever,” Garey says.
An intense workout or
not, it’s still an exciting event, says volunteer, emcee and sponsor Scott
McDonnell, who has worked the local race for 11 years. Getting reacquainted with
the returning world-class racers after a year’s absence is fun, he says.
“And of course, they’re all adrenaline junkies, so they’re pretty
cool people.” But the race itself, he says, is a formula for excitement.
Even the race course is something to behold. “You’re looking at a drag
strip that goes straight down a mountain.”
So whether they hit that magic
180 km/h or not, the 2008 Subaru Velocity Challenge speed skiing event at Sun
Peaks Resort is sure to be an exciting weekend of speed, adrenaline and excitement
for the racers, spectators and sponsors alike.
For more information visit www.velocitychallenge.com.
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