Words By Jason Epp
The evening of June 22nd riders from all over
North America converged in the
small ski town of Wyndham, NY to begin tech inspection for
the first annual I love
DH Skateboard and street Luge race. There was a large
contingent of riders from
Southern Ontario in attendance as well as a number of top
ranking riders from
Quebec, B.C, Colorado, and California. Practice/qualifying
runs took place the
following morning with the announcement that they were going
to be testing a new
format that automatically timed every run towards qualifying.
The first look at the course was very promising considering
the recent
announcement that we were no longer able to race the top
portion of the course due
to liability reasons. The revised course consisted of a push
into a steep dropping left
hairpin with terrible pavement, this then led into a
straightaway that would dump
you into a technical left right chicane that was followed by
a long straightaway
where you would reach top speed (where top downhill
skateboarders were clocked
at speeds upwards of 75km/h) followed by 90° left that led
to the finish line.
Practice runs were slow and the new timing system was
questionable at best leaving
room for improvement for next year but first day eventually
got rolling after each
riders attempt at a solo qualifying run. After the day of
practice many riders grabbed
some beers and hung out at the slide jam being hosted close
by until it got dark.
The next day consisted of a single practice run followed by
a day of racing. The
day started with the Amateur class, and after long delays
due to injuries they had
to postpone it until the end of the Pro and Street Luge
classes. The organization of
the racing brackets also left much to be desired along with
the fact that the timing
system had failed to qualify a handful of riders but as the
first couple rounds went
through the racing began to get interesting with tight heats
and big crashes through
the chicane leading into the straightaway. Patrick Switzer,
Alex Tongue, and James
Kelly were dominating their heats along with Ben Dubreuil,
and Charles Ouimet
from Quebec who both made to the finals. Unfortunately in
the Semi-finals Hanover
born Patrick Switzer ended up falling and being eliminated
from the finals but then
took 5th overall in consolation. At the end of
the day it was Alex Tongue who took
home the gold followed by James Kelly who narrowly passed
Ben Dubreuil at the
finish line and Charles Ouimet to follow in 4th. Though
the organization could have something to aspire to in following years, the
venue has much potential, and I look forward to seeing
everyone there in the years
to come.
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