Crashing into Hay Bales doing 100km/h Hurts!

Two weeks ago the Whistler Longboard Festival rolled through town. Check out the highlight video from an intense weekend of racing. Ridiculous speeds, HUGE crashes and photo finishes!

With skin-tight leather racing suits and, let's face it, basically no street cred, longboarding is street skating's bastard cousin. But one look at the speeds these guys are getting will no doubt convince anyone that this shit is as legit as it gets. Careening down a mountain with literally no brakes, racers only have the option to power-slide through the turns to maintain some semblance of being in control. No small feat when travelling close to 100 km/h!

Now in it's third year, the Whistler Longboard Festival brings a sanctioned longboard racing event to the world's biggest year-round resort. And the venue they chose for it could not be more perfect – the switchbacking road that leads up to the Whistler Sliding Center (ie. the biggest waste of money and resources in the world) finally putting the $20-million veue to a use that interests more than six rich old euro dudes. 

They really stepped up their game this year, complete with a live webcast of the event, a professional cablecam rig filming the event live, as well as bands, DJs, big crowds and even a few street events at the skate park.

Check out this recap video of the downhill race. It looks so intense. And wait for the photo finish, it's classic!