Mountain racers are training themselves and their horses, as the Williams Lake Stampede has opened for entries to this year's mountain races.
Each day of the Stampede, racers ride their horses down the hill from near Oliver Street at 8th Avenue North and onto the track, ending the race in front of the Stampede grandstands.
For each race, riders are awarded points, with the top spot going to the rider with the most points over the four days. There are daily and then an overall purse of prize money.
The 2024 Mountain Race is sponsored by Allied Blower & Sheet Metal with $5,000 added purse donated by the Williams Lake Stampede Association.
The event is open to anyone, and Jimmy Lulua, a past racer who now organizes the event, said the quality of both riders and horses are high.
"These guys train hard and their horses train," he said.
Lulua himself has intimate knowledge of how dangerous the sport of mountain racing can be, after a crash in the Mountain Race at the Nemiah Valley Rodeo he broke both his eye orbitals and he had to have facial reconstruction to repair his skull as well as breaking his left ankle and bruising over most of his body.
"Basically my whole body almost turned purple," he said.
Despite the difficult recovery and severity of his injury, Lulua still said there is nothing better than the feeling a rider gets from winning such a challenging race.
"Going across the finish line in front of a big crowd is really something special," he said.
While a rider is nervous before a race, he said once you race, it's all adrenaline.
Lulua is also dedicated to working to make the event safer for horses and riders, noting pre-race inspections help ensure horse and rider readiness, and he feels riders respect him enough to listen if he has concerns.
Only 10 riders are allowed to race each day, and racers who have signed up for all four days will take precedence for entry.
Lulua said both the start and the finish are great parts of the event to watch and he's excited to see how this year plays out.
He thinks there may be a battle for top spot, and with any horse race, it will be another exciting year to watch.
"I think there's so much possibility here in Williams Lake," he said, with the event already popular, but with great characters and culture, it could become even more so.
Entry into the Mountain Race event is now open and can be completed up until the event, if space allows. Entry is $400 for all four days or $150 per day if only entering a day at a time. Vet checks take place one hour before rodeo start time. Contact Jimmy Lulua at 250-267-5559 for more information or to enter.
