The Race For the Rail is the World Championships of Onewheel racing held in the United States. It’s presented by Onewheel Racing League and gathers the world’s best riders.
The format
The format is a boardercross style like snowboarding downhill, the riders declined ski slopes, and 4 racers against each other in an elimination round. Heading down as fast as you can on a Onewheel, pushing it to the limit, requires some nerves and riding skills.
There are both a woman’s and men’s classes with each its own champion. The price is the Rail, fame, and a check for $10,000. The rail is custom-made for the event and the revealing of the rai has become an event in itself.
The winner of the qualifying races across the nation is automatically entered into the final. There are also some wildcards available. The qualifiers are done with your own board but the final bracket is held on ORL-certified boards to ensure that everyone has the same equipment. Making the winner truly the best rider and not the one with the best board.
History Of The Race For The Rail
The Race For The Rail started with a couple of friends pushing themselves and their boards to the limit down the tricky slopes. To find the World’s Greatest Onewheel Rider!
As a token and prize, the winner got a Onewheel frame rail, and so it was born!
Over the years the race has grown and now is the official Onewheel race sponsored by Future Motion Inc. The winner of Race For The Rail crowns the fastest rider on the planet and still gets a Rail, the 2021 version was in a form of a hammer Rail!
Rules and regulation
There are a couple of rules and some have been added during the time of the rails. The latest is no alcohol consumption and we will not go into why it was added.
- Participants must be 14 years of age or older
- Participants between 14-18 must have a parent or guardian present and signature
- All participants must sign the race waiver provided by Future Motion
- Participants may participate in as many qualifying events as they would like
- All participants must wear a helmet and wrist guards during the race and/or time trials
- Participants must use personal boards for preliminary time trials and ORL-certified race boards for final qualifying rounds.
- Alcohol consumption for participants is not allowed prior to race or time trials. Any racer suspected of intoxication can be disqualified.
2022 held in Sky Tavern, Nevada 20-21 August
The 2022 Race for the Rails is the first that uses the Onewheel GT as the main board. The increased performance will lead to some nice highlights and riders pushing the new board to its limits. 500 racers did enter the qualifiers and the final with only 30 riders remaining is down a ski mountain in Nevada for a chance to win $10,000.
Women’s 2022 Race for the Rail Champion: Cecil Racheal
Men’s 2022 Race for the Rail Champion: Kyle Hanson
Winning Runs from Race For The Rail 2022
2021 held in Snowbasin Resort Utah
Women’s 2021 Race for the Rail Champion: Zoe Thomas
Stance: Regular
Men’s 2021 Race for the Rail Champion: Tyler James
Stance: Goofy
2020 held in Utah
2020 Race for the Rail Champion: Brenden Schurmeier
2019 held in Northstar Resort in Lake Tahoe
2019 Race for the Rail Champion: Dom Williams
Image source: Onewheel press release
