WATCH: How to rip up Knox Mountain in next to no time

After COVID-19 put the brakes on one of Kelowna’s longest-running events, the 63rd Leavitt Machinery Knox Mountain Hill Climb has made its long-awaited return.

59 drivers from across B.C., Alberta, and the United States are camped near Knox Mountain this holiday weekend, vying for the title of King or Queen of the Hill in various vehicle categories.

The event got underway Saturday and continued Sunday.

Chief Organizer, Bryan Fulton, told Kelowna10 that having this event back is huge for the racers.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm and people are really anxious to get back out there,” he said. “They made a lot of changes to their cars over the time they’ve been off, so they want to see how much they’ve improved.”

One of the drivers, Mark Uhlmann, has been eager to make his mark in the Kelowna Race after not competing for a number of years.

“I was back spectating three years ago, but it’s been 11 years since I’ve driven here,” Uhlmann said. “I’m excited to be back and with COVID, it felt the moment to get here.”

He is driving a 2012 Stohr WF1 in the Sports Racer class, which according to him, is the lightest car at the event. He said the challenge for his car will be seeing how it handles the bumps going up the hill, but his expectations are straight forward.

“First and foremost is to bring it home in one piece,” he said. “But I’m hoping to put our time in the 1:45:00 range and be King of the Hill.”

Another driver, Amanda Schuffels, is competing for the first time and is sporting a 1994 Honda Civic in the Street Prepared Cars category.

She got into racing in 2017, and it was at the 2018 hill climb where she knew she wanted to be competing alongside everyone else.

“I put my car into the car show in 2018 and I saw the cars ripping up the hill,” she said. “I started figuring out how to get my licensing that abled me to race the hill.”

She has been in races at Mission Raceway and the Okanagan Autocross and said having the racing community united again at events is amazing.

“You walk around the pits, and people are so welcoming, they want to know what you drive, and they want to give you tips and tricks,” she said. “Seeing everybody back together and all the smiles it just warms my heart it’s been awesome.”

Day two of the mountain climb goes Sunday. Profits from the event are donated to JoeAnna’s House and the Westbank Museum.