Let the Races Begin
Spring Brings Shredding at its Finest
On the heels of an incredible winter in Whistler, it’s fitting that along with spring comes a trio of epic mountain races. Starting later this month, three very different competitions arrive in Whistler.
Kicking off the racing season is the Showcase Showdown at the end of March. As the longest-running snowboard competition in Canada, the Showcase Showdown is teed up to start at 11 a.m. on March 25.
Celebrating their twentieth anniversary, this competition — which aims to crown a “King of the Mountain”— will feature some amazing snowboarding. This single-day event is broken into five skill levels and will be a blast to participate in or watch. Cash and swag will be handed out all day. Everyone is welcome, so come out and show Whistler what you’ve got!
Next up is DC Snowboarding’s “Hit & Run,” an event that slides into town on April 1. This global series, whose siblings are hosted in France and the U.S. respectively, is a two-day snowboard competition merging the speed and turns of a banked slalom with slopestyle jibs and jabs.
The challenge of Hit & Run: to test the range of all-around riding skills while allowing competitors to shred the vast and varied terrain of Whistler Blackcomb.
The goal: get down the course as fast as you can, while dropping your best tricks, which will—depending on difficulty and impressiveness—also get time deducted. It is sure to push the limits of the human body versus gravity. Total prize purse: $4500.
The final spring race, the Whistler Cup, returns again this year for more fierce competition. In its twenty-third year, the Whistler Cup attracts the world’s élite juvenile ski racers who will be competing over Easter weekend, April 13–16. From twenty-five different countries, these eleven-to-fourteen-year-olds will tear up the Whistler slopes in an intense battle, which has become the largest and most important ski race in North America for this age group.
This triad of races is the perfect pairing to the amazing winter conditions that continue in Whistler, so grab your skis, snowboard and cowbell and head up the highway to catch these racers burn down the slopes.
For more: whistlerblackcomb.com