Wild And Windblown: Maryhill Festival of Speed Day 1

So, I don’t want to brag, but sometimes I do get the coolest assignments at the paper.

Today, YH-R photographer Sara Gettys and I headed down to Goldendale for the first day of practice for this year’s Maryhill Festival of Speed. This is only the festival’s second year and it’s already hosting the International Gravity Sports Association’s World Championships.

I was told several times today, that’s a pretty big frickin’ deal. This is the first time the world championships — which include downhill skateboarding, inline skating and street luge — have been held outside of Europe. And, IGSA President Marcus Rietema accidentally let it slip that next year’s IGSA World Championships won’t be in Europe either. They’ll be in Australia.

But this year, Goldendale — and John Ozman, who founded the Maryhill Festival of Speed — have the privilege of hosting 200 speed freaks from more than 10 countries as they risk life and limb, and some serious road rash, to race down the historic Maryhill Loops Road.

You can check out my amateur photos and videos from today’s practice HERE.

“It’s a fantastic road,” said Switzerland’s Martin Siegrist, who’s one of the major competitors in the downhill skateboard race. (He’s got three to one odds to win it.)

“Finally we got a strong tail wind; we were waiting for that last year,” he noted. (Strong is an understatement, the wind was blowing so hard it was knocking over the hay bale barricades.)

Plus, he added, the golden grass and blue skies make for some great pictures.

“It’s just a perfect spot for a race,” said Siegrist.

Today and tomorrow the racers will practice navigating the road’s more than 20 curves. The first qualifying run is from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday.

The races (and the practices) are free to watch. A shuttle — which will take spectators to two sites with bleachers and shade — runs Saturday and Sunday only, otherwise you have to walk (watch out for the cow pies). The free shuttle leaves from the bottom of Maryhill Loops Road, which is to the left, just past the Stonehenge Memorial turn-out on Washington Scenic Route 14.

You can also catch a good view of the road from the scenic viewpoint on U.S. Route 97.

Here’s the schedule, which is subject to change:

THURSDAY
9 a.m.-Noon — Open Practice (all classes)
Noon-1 p.m. — Lunch Break
1-5 p.m. — Open Practice (all classes)
7-8 p.m. — Autograph session with 12 of the top gravity athletes in the world. At the Goldendale McDonald’s.

FRIDAY
9 a.m.-noon — Open practice (all classes).
Noon-1 p.m. — Lunch break.
1-5 p.m. — Qualifying run No. 1. (Order: downhill skateboard, street luge, inline skating, classic luge, gravity bike.)

Saturday
9 a.m.-noon — Open practice (all classes).
Noon-1 p.m. — Lunch break.
1-p.m. — Qualifying run No. 2 (Order: downhill skateboard, street luge, inline skating, classic luge, gravity bike.)
8 p.m.-midnight — Fastest qualifier awards and rock concert at the Klickitat County Fairgrounds, 965 N. Fairgrounds Road. All ages. Beer garden. Free admission.

Sunday
8:30-9 a.m. — Morning warm-up.
9-10 a.m. — Junior downhill skateboard race; inline skate race; gravity bike race.
10-11 a.m. — Classic luge race.
11-11:30 p.m. — Afternoon warm-up.
11:30-11:45 a.m. — Downhill skateboard rider introductions.
11:45 a.m.-noon — Invocation, national anthem.
Noon-2:30 p.m. — Downhill skateboard race.
3-4:30 p.m. — Street luge race; women’s downhill skateboard race.
8 p.m.-midnight — World championship awards and rock concert at the Klickitat County Fairgrounds, 965 N. Fairgrounds Road. All ages. Beer garden. Free admission.

For more information, visit www.maryhillfestivalofspeed.com.

And check Friday’s Yakima Herald-Republic for my complete story on the festival.