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The Globe and Mail - GT or Die: A toboggan race for grown-ups

Photo: Dave Best - GT or Die - Golden BC
Carrie Tait
GOLDEN, B.C. — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Mar. 26, 2017 5:23PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Mar. 27, 2017 4:16PM EDT

Tim Nelson is standing at the top of a snowy downhill race course in the Purcell Mountains. The track features jumps, banks, curves and straightaways where racers pick up speed. Nelson is in snowboard boots, scoping out the competition.

He is the returning champion of the annual GT or Die race, here to defend his title. Yes, GTs – those dinky plastic sleds that Santa buys at Canadian Tire. But this isn’t about kids zipping down a pimple at the local park. This is a hold-my-beer kind of event for grown-ups in the backcountry near Golden, B.C.

About 200 racers and spectators are here for the race. Nelson is the one to beat. He eats burgers in the off-season as part of his training regimen. He has put new grips on his GT’s handlebars and has re-engineered it – “mods” in the lingua franca of GT or Die – to make it lighter. He wears a black ball cap instead of a helmet. Sunglasses.

Nelson takes his place at the starting line, at the top of a small knoll designed so racers gather speed before the first curve. Four, sometimes five competitors are in each qualifying heat. The track runs about 300 metres.

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