Longboard Festival Speeds into Fifth Year
Longboarders are a strange breed. Clad in rubber suits designed to protect soft flesh from serious road rash, they look more like space aliens than racing folk. With hockey pucks ducttaped to their palms, and helmets firmly attached to their heads, the world’s top longboarders descend upon Whistler from September 18 through 20 for a thrilling showdown of spills and speed at the Fifth Annual Whistler Longboard Festival.
The rubber hits the road on Friday with the Sector 9 Freeride and No Hands Race—a madcap descent of the steep curves of the Whistler Sliding Centre’s access road on Blackcomb Mountain. For reasons that defy sanity, leathers are optional “for an extra thrill,” say organisers. Expect to see graceful lines and screeching slides as competitors warm up for the weekend. Free parking for spectators is available in Lot 8.
Once the day’s road rash clinic is complete, the action shifts to the Flatspot Skate Bowl Jam on Friday evening, held at the classic bowl of old skool cement known as the Whistler Skate Park. Registration is free and on-site, and local and
visiting longboard enthusiasts are invited to join the free-flowing fun as riders take over the usual shortboard terrain. Free parking is right next door in Lots 4 and 5.
With the weekend comes the heat, as spectators and competitors alike return to the Whistler Sliding Centre at the base of Blackcomb Mountain for the Landyachtz World Cup Downhill Race. With competitors hitting highway speeds, it is time to bring the noise for Saturday’s edgy qualifiers and clang the cowbell for Sunday’s hard-fought finals. Inter--
national and local elite racers from twenty different countries take on a challenging course featuring eleven corners with eight hairpin turns. Expect bountiful crashes and aggressive riding styles as the crash pads and hay bales are put to the test. As before, free parking is available in Lot 8.
All the event info can be had at whistler.com/events. And if you’re new to longboarding and want to save some skin, check out the “Learn to Stop at Clark Park” clinics held by Flatspot Longboard Shop in Vancouver.