In Prince George British Columbia, Canada they had an event called the Sand Blast. It was started by some local skiers that decided (after a few pints likely) it would brighten up their summer if they had a race down the cut. I got to see this one year and it was absolutely insane and one big beer-fest where up to 5,000 spectators took in the nutfest.

For 32 years the City of Prince George looked forward to zany summer event that got even more crazy when the added a furniture category. Unfortunately it is that category that was the death of the event when a couch with wheels, no steering and no brakes wiped out taking some spectators with them. It reached 86MPH and it is a miracle no one was killed.

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Jason Peters is a journalist based in Prince George, B.C., which is on the territory of the Lheidli T’enne reported on CBC News in August of 2023

“For more than three decades, thrill-seekers in Prince George, B.C., hurled themselves down the summertime slope of the Nechako River cutbanks.

First on alpine skis, and later on snowboards and mountain bikes, they dared challenge Prince George’s most visible geographic feature — a 60-degree sand and gravel bank formed thousands of years ago by the melting glacial ice sheets that filled the Nechako and Fraser rivers.

The event was called Sandblast, and it was a harrowing exercise of fastest-to-the-bottom wins.

But on Aug. 16, 2003 — in its 32nd year of follies and mayhem — it all came to a crashing halt.

On that sunny Saturday, an old, bulky sofa raised up on bicycle wheels — but with no steering or brakes to give its three riders control — veered off the east side of the course and slammed at ever-increasing speed into two young spectators sitting on the hill.

The accident left the young spectators with permanent injuries and their families with other, less visible scars that still haunt them 20 years later.

“I started to panic and never stopped since,” said Andrine Morse, whose five-year-old daughter and a close family friend were struck by the couch.”

MORE ABOUT PRINCE GEORGE

The area is in Prince George with an estimated population of 86,000 and is situated in the territory of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation. As Canada and British Columbia comes to grips with is colonialism, it is the willingness of all parties to negotiate in good faith which leads to meaningful reconciliation. The Lheidli T’enneh , Canada and the Province of British Columbia are to be congratulated of showing us what can be done.