The Sunday Magazine

A love letter to tobogganing

A mini-documentary from the late Bob Carty

In many parts of this country, the arrival of a blanket of snow brings beauty, quiet, and the chance to be a kid again. 

You can jump on a toboggan, fly down the nearest hill, land in a heap, and trudge back up to do it all over again. 

From our archives, here's "Tobogganing" — a mini-documentary produced by the late Bob Carty, which first aired in 1999. 

The 44th annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan race was held last weekend, at Chicopee Tube Park in Kitchener, Ontario. There were 500 competitors, from 19 universities.

500 engineering students from 18 universities and colleges across Canada and one from the United States raced their built concrete toboggans downhill in Chicopee Tube Park in Kitchener for the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race last week. (Carmen Ponciano/CBC)
The team from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology won the overall title; Michigan's Lawrence Tech won the King of the Hill tournament, and the team of engineering students from the University of Calgary, had the fastest sled, topping 50 kilometres per hour. Next year's race will be in Edmonton.

Click 'listen' above to hear the documentary.