Teams competed with the weather and "just getting there"; due to the avalanche danger on BC's Highway 5, The Coquihalla Toll Highway was closed.

Adversity struck at last year's winners, Satch Carlson and Russ Kraushaar, slated at Car 1, as mechanical difficulties prevented the team from getting to Canada. Car 2 was the returning 2003 winning team of brothers Lee and Rod Sorenson from California. Car 3, Glenn Wallace ('04, '05), this time with R.Dale Kraushaar, intent on another win, but also in preparation for their run in the next week's Alcan Winter Rally. Car 4, fresh from their Totem 2007 win, were Jason Webster and Brandon Harer, our Oregon Team on Fire, from the Portland area. Car 5 was former Pacific Coast Challenge champion team of Jeff McMillen and Marvin Crippen.

The rest of the field was packed with former Thunderbird winners. Of the 39 starting teams, fewer than a dozen have not been on Thunderbird before -- a testament to the draw of this prestigious event. Our route was north, climbing out of the valley. Twisting along 97C to Logan Lake and the start of the first regularity. "Tunkwa Lake" covered 46-km with conditions ranging from wet pavement to shaded bank-to-bank snow. At 33-km a lazy-T-left took teams along a scenic winding gradual climb, before an acute right and the steep drop down to Savona.

A short transit west, then the hairpin climbs up and down Sabiston Creek Road, for "Red Lake Regularity". Tranquille to Kamloops was covered by melting snow, a bit "slippy", and a bit narrow when meeting the big Kenworth gravel trains.

Fuel and snacks before "North Kamloops Transit" -- along the Thompson River plateau. "Westside Regularity" climbs gradually, to finish with a drop through hairpins, ending in a very tight acute-left at Barriere.

40-km later, with conditions ranging from bare to snow-covered, a crossroads marked the beginning of "Adams Lake Regularity", climbing above the lake, with the occasional hairpin crossing a creek. Speeds increased to 65-km/h at pavement, slowing again for Adams Lake village and the end of section.

36-km "Loakin Bear Regularity" climbs quickly, then spends 8-km twisting through a narrow cut in the forest. The road opens to two lanes and follows Loakin Creek to the Thompson River. At 19.63-km the speed drops to 36-km/h and the road drops through a series of icy hairpins (collecting customers for Sweep along its route). The remainder of the section follows the river to Pritchard's one-lane bridge.

At Highway 1, competitors continued through Martin Prairie and the 14-km "Duck Range Regularity" with its early CP and hairpin. The speeds increased as the road changed from paved to gravel (of course!) with the last 7-km at 60-km/h.

A short run down Highway 97, then 26-km of "Robbins Range Regularity". As in past years, there was plenty of snow -- back roads or main roads. Finally, bare pavement on Highway 1 to Kamloops and dinner.

The addition of "Time Allowance" requests is new to Thunderbird -- several creative writing workshops must have been held during transit sections. The result slowed scoring -- eventually Saturday results listed Webster/Harer with 7 points, followed by the Sorenson brothers with 11, and Wallace/Kraushaar with 17. Paul Eklund and Kala Rounds led Calculator class with 22. Gil Stuart and Chris Peake led Historic with 64. Gavin Aitken and Todd Dunlop led Novice with 127. Father-Daughter team of Alan and Emma Perry led Paper (SOP) class with 217.

Day Two got off to a rousing start north of Kamloops, on deep snow, through Lac du Bois, Walking Creek, O'Conner Lake, and Jamieson Main roads. Snow depth was ever-increasing, with radio chatter including the phrase "is the emergency exit road passable" referring to a pending last-minute option around deep, impassable snow -- fortunately the answer was "yes" although the emergency route was not needed...

Our CP allowed us to backtrack into Kamloops to leapfrog the rally for our next location. A misprint in the routebook was "caught" by the rallymaster as Course Opening, and an impromptu "Route Control" was set up -- something not defined in BC rallying. We took over R/C duties and succeeded in stopping all but one running competitor with the updated information. As a result, we assumed "Fast Sweep" duties as the Sweep Crew was "busy" and over an hour behind.

"Twig Creek Regularity" covered 55.46-km of snowy twists and undulations, with a couple of photo-op hairpins. One hairpin "named" for a Seattle driver. We followed the last car through the section until the first big hairpin, an acute-left -- the car went straight. Expecting this to result in an "off course" at best, an "off" at worst, with no Sweep, we followed, attempting to gain their attention -- which we did, just short of the spot where this shortcut regained the rally route at a checkpoint -- both of us continued onto the course. Unfortunately, as we stopped to pass the time-of-day with the CP, the Novice Crew took another off course excursion for several more minutes. They did recover and rejoined the rally.

"Peter Hope Regularity" covered 32.72-km. Five CP greeted 32 teams, assessing very few overall points.

"Minnie Lake Regularity" covered a varying route -- tight and twisting uphill, then deep-banked snow undulating though the area of "mini lakes" (in warmer conditions) and bright snowfields, becoming wide, fast, but slippery two-lane at 63-km/h, out to gravel and hairpins dropping to Nicola Lake.

Results at Merritt put
Webster/Harer (OR) in First Overall/First Unlimited with 20 points;
Sorenson/Sorenson (CA) Second with 25;
Wallace/Kraushaar (WA/AZ) Third with 31.

First Calculator to Josh Keatly and Christa Monasch (AB/AB) with 64, followed very closely by Eklund/Rounds (OR) with 67.
First Historic in the 1967 Volvo 123GT was Stuart/Peaks (BC).
First Novice to Karl Nylund and Shane Annandale (BC/BC) with 220.
First Paper (SOP) to Perry/Perry (WA) with 327.

Full results and photos at www.rallybc.com