FILE PHOTO - Overlooking Okanagan Lake from Knox Mountain Park in Kelowna. After a two-year absence the Knox Mountain Hill Climb is returning to Kelowna for its 63rd edition, just after the roadway in the popular city park opens to other vehicles next spring.

(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

After a two-year absence the Knox Mountain Hill Climb is returning to Kelowna for its 63rd edition, just after the roadway in the popular city park opens to other vehicles next spring.

“There is a lot of interest from the driving world already,” Hill Climb organizer Bryan Fulton told iNFOnews.ca. “There’s interest from as far away as the State of Georgia.”

The road up Knox Mountain has been closed to vehicular traffic during the COVID pandemic, which also caused Hill Climb organizers to cancel the event for the past two years.

But, failing a fifth wave of COVID and strict lockdown orders, Fulton sees no reason not to stage the race again, although details on how the pit and sponsor display areas will be organized still have to be worked out.

READ MORE: Kelowna’s popular Knox Mountain Park could partially reopen to vehicles

The race draws drivers mostly from the Pacific Northwest with about a dozen being local, Fulton said, noting it’s good that the U.S. border has reopened.

The race is run under a special permit and is “grandfathered” so it would run whether the road was open to the general public or not during the rest of the summer season, Fulton said.

Earlier this week, Kelowna city council rejected a staff recommendation to reopen the road to vehicles just to the first lookout for only four afternoons a week. Instead, council ruled it should open seven days a week from noon to 8 p.m.

READ MORE: Knox Mountain Hill Climb set for May long in Kelowna

The road is closed every winter from November to March so no vehicles can use it until next spring.

The Hill Climb is on the May long weekend.

FILE PHOTO - The Knox Mountain Hill Climb returns to Kelowna in the spring, as does daily public vehicular access.

(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

While there’s keen interest from drivers, the number of people organizing the event is dwindling.

“The impact of the pandemic, for us as a group of aging people that are trying to keep this piece of history alive, is there’s fewer and fewer of us,” Fulton said. “We’re always looking for people who have an interest in history or car racing or fundraising. Check out the webpage and give us a call because we really could use some help.”

READ MORE: How a caretaker and a couple of gates transformed this Kelowna park

The Hill Climb, in 2019, raised money for the B.C. SPCA and Sunshine Dreams for Kids.

The record time for driving up the 3.5 kilometre up hill course with its numerous hairpin corners is one minute and 37:065 seconds, set by John Haftner in 2007.

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