Snowcross racing is back in Greater Sudbury

The hills alongside Sudbury Downs were packed Saturday as fans of snowcross came out to enjoy stellar racing.

Following an absence due to the pandemic, the Sudbury Pro Snowcross races are back and organizers hope to make it an annual event.

The hills in the Greater Sudbury community of Azilda were alive with the sounds of little rippers treading through a snowmobile course at Sudbury Downs on Saturday.

The Canadian Snowcross Racing Association (CSRA) returned to Northern Ontario.

"It's a great market for snowmobiling. We wanted to get back here to Sudbury Downs and the community let us come back here this year. We've got the COVID thing almost over with, and we're looking forward to some great races," said President Ken Avann.

Racers aged from as young as four to professionals in their forties were on the courses as races were cut to just one day this weekend due the change in weather Sunday.

The Greater Sudbury area is under a freezing rain warning starting tonight.

"Snowcross is very simple to motorcycle or Motocross where racers compete on a closed course, it's full of very rough terrain, it's very physically demanding. The racers run multiple laps," said Avann.

“It’s also physically demanding and many of the racers on the track are in peak physical condition.”

"They'll fly with big jumps over the air, sometimes they'll fly as high as 150 feet through the air. Then we have classes, 24 classes of competition from kids as young as four years of age all the way up to the novice and junior riders," he said.

Fans and racers came from across the region and as far south as Barrie/Oro-Medonte came to the area to take in the event.

Some of the racers included 12-year-old Zoe Karkoulas of the Karkoulas Sisters Racing team. She's from the Lindsay area.

"My dad was racing when he was younger, and that got me and my sisters into it so now we all race."

Karkoulas said it's not as popular with the girls or women but it's getting there. She figures there are more men but suggested girls should give it a try.

"So we all have sleds that are equal and then we go on a track and race each other and have some fun out there. I like being here, my family is very competitive so we all like being here, racing and going fast," said Karkoulas.

"It's great to be back, to see so many people and to see all the people that we've missed for a few years," said Steve St. Onge.

St. Onge is a team owner of St. Onge Racing, he also owns St. Onge Recreation, a dealership in the Barrie area.

“It's a long winter and it's so nice to be able to go out there and doing something. The number one reason you do it is to be able to go out and spend some time with your kids, that's for sure the best, but it sure is nice to be able to go out there and do something in the winter time."  

"It feels great to be back, to see old friends and make news ones," said Paul Kates, a race mechanic for St. Onge Recreation.

"It gets people out to race and compete and to have a good time."

Avann said he's just happy everyone can get back together again and have some fun.

"It's a huge sport in Canada, with over 600,000 snowmobilers, it's a big sport and it's a huge tourism draw for the city of Sudbury and every other stop that we go on.”

The economic impact is significant, it's between 700,000 and 1.2 million for each stop for the local economy. Everyone wants to get out and have some fun and we want to be part of that and grow the sport at the same time," he said.

The last race was about three years ago in Timmins, and this is the first one in sometime with spectators.

Avann said with three northern stops, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins, it plans to make it a triple crown where racers can compete for points.