Sun Peaks Velocity Challenge Enjoys 20th Anniversary

Looking for some great winter action? You won’t find anything faster and more exciting than the Velocity Challenge at the Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, Canada. The event is the only one of its kind in North America and it certainly has spectators holding their breath as the competitors battle it out for first place.

Looking for some great winter action? You won’t find anything faster and more exciting than the Velocity Challenge at the Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia, Canada. The event is the only one of its kind in North America and it certainly has spectators holding their breath as the competitors battle it out for first place.

So what exactly is the Velocity Challenge? It is one of the longest running speed skiing events in the world. Basically as many as fifty speed skiers from up to ten different countries all gather together to take part in this great annual event at the Sun Peaks Resort. They then proceed to race down the slope at incredible speeds as they vie for the winner’s trophy. Some of the world’s fastest skiers attend the event and you can see them go from 0 to 175 km/h in just seven seconds! Of course the track they take is not for sissies either – the Headwall Speed Skiing Track has a reputation for its insane level of difficulty. Have we got your attention yet?

According to event organizer Adam Earle, the Headwall Speed Skiing Track is “known in the speed skiing circles as one of the world’s most difficult tracks to compete on”. He added, “While most speed skiing tracks in Europe are smooth and concave allowing racers to see the whole track during their run, the Headwall Track at Sun Peaks is convex and has several rolls in it. This basically means that racers only see the first fifty meters of the track before it falls away. It gets pretty wild when racers hit a blind knoll at 175 km/h; it almost becomes a free fall.” Clearly this event is not for the faint-hearted.

The Velocity Challenge will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2009. Since its inception more than two decades ago, it has grown and grown. Today it is a world-renowned FIS World Cup Speed Skiing event and competitors all fight for FIS World Cup points during the event. The main prize, however, is the title of 2009 Subaru Velocity Challenge champion – and of course your life and health (if the skier manages to survive the treacherous slope in one piece), but who is worried about that? The Sun Peaks Velocity Challenge is also the only FIS World Cup Speed Skiing event to take place outside of Europe, so it gets a lot of international attention. The 2009 Velocity Challenge will be taking place from March 4 to 7 and should definitely not be missed.