Hill Climb to crown winner this year

A real-time trophy presentation, conducted atop a podium, should for the first time provide a crowd-pleasing conclusion to the Knox Mountain Hill Climb.

A Saturday night party also promises to be more lively than past soirees associated with the long-running car race up the downtown Kelowna mountain. And the crowd of spectators could be one of the largest in the event’s fabled history, organizers say.

“I really think there’s more organic buzz about this race than ever before,” race spokesman Garrett Mealing said Monday in an interview. “After two years of this pandemic, people are really looking for something fun to do.

“We normally get about 2,000 spectators but I think we might draw around 3,000 this year,” he said. “The hill can definitely accommodate that many people.”

About 65 drivers from around B.C. are expected to compete over the two days of racing to see who can ascend Knox Mountain in the fastest time. The 3.5 km course runs from the bottom to the top with maximum speeds exceeding 160 km/h on straight sections.

The history and uniqueness of the event — it’s the longest such mountain hillclimb on a paved surface in North America, dating back more than 60 years — has in the past drawn the cameras of programs such as Wide World of Sports.

There are occasional grumblings about the event’s noise, but organizers say they’ve been assured by city officials they can continue to stage the race so long as they don’t miss a year.

Of course, the pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the hillclimb in 2020 and 2021. For its revival, organizers have planned a few tweaks. A Saturday night concert is planned within the race grounds.

And, for all the thunder and spectacle of the racing, past events have ended anti-climatically. Racing officials with the Confederation of Car Clubs who oversee events like the Hill Climb have historically frowned on trophy presentations, since results are considered unofficial until the period for any potential challenges has passed.

So many Hill Climb spectators, and drivers themselves, have left the mountain without knowing who won the race, with results being posted later online.

“This year, we convinced the Confederation to just let us go ahead and hand out trophies at the end of the racing on Sunday afternoon,” Mealing said. “Fans want to see the winner crowned, so we’ve built a podium we’ll use for the awards.

“The racers are all a pretty friendly bunch, and we don’t usually get a lot of challenges to unofficial results based on things like overweight cars or whatever, anyway," Mealing said. “There’s not really a lot on the line. Just a small trophy and bragging rights till the next year.”