Gallery: Okotoks speedsters light up the track at 34th annual Soapbox Derby

The Okotoks Rotary Club held their annual soapbox derby on Saturday, June 1.

It’s a longstanding annual tradition, with this being the event’s 34th year.

As always, it featured a roster of around 100 racers sporting cars with a range of unique and colourful designs.

Members from the Okotoks Dawgs were stationed at the bottom of the hill on Crystal Ridge Drive, along with members of Okotoks Municipal Enforcement, who were equipped with radar guns to measure the speed of each racer.

This year’s champion was Viana Poulin, who clocked in at 54 kilometres per hour in her Silver Bullet soapbox.

She credits her lightning-fast car's design to her father.

“He’s an engineer. We have a lot of history with airplanes and aerodynamics. It’s all the aerodynamics and greasing the tires.”

This was Viana and the Silver Bullet’s second year competing in the derby.

She explained some of the key changes from the year prior.

“Last year I did place seventh. We say the car was too fast and I kept hitting the bales, unfortunately making it so that I’d keep crashing and the wheels would splay out, slowing me down. It got to the point where we couldn’t fix it anymore… Now we have the entire front end to be replaced whenever it’s necessary. We have six.”

More information on the Okotoks Rotary Club can be seen on their Facebook page and their website.