Crazy Canucks Ride Again As Legends Of Honor At 2010 Korbel American Ski Classic

The original "wild and crazy guys" of winter will be honored next week as the Crazy Canucks, Canada's four-member World Cup Downhill contingent of the 1970s and 80s, will be inducted into the International Ski Hall of Fame March 20 during the 2010 Korbel American Ski Classic in Vail.

Comprised of Ken Read, Steve Podborski, Dave Irwin and Dave Murray, and coached by Scott Henderson, they earned the nickname for their fast and seemingly reckless approach to Downhill racing. In the process, they also garnered several "firsts" for North American skiers as Read became the first North American to win a World Cup Downhill (Val d'Isere, France in 1978), while Podborski became the first Canadian male to win a World Cup discipline title (Downhill in 1982), along with his 1980 Olympic bronze medal in Downhill in Lake Placid.

The name Crazy Canucks came from a headline in a European newspaper. According to Read, it read "The Canucks: They Ski Like Crazy". The name stuck and accurately represented this daring Canadian team.

All told, the Crazy Canucks racked up a total of 14 World Cup victories, all of those coming in Downhill, along with Podborski's Olympic medal. Two weeks after Read's historic win in Val d'Isere, Irwin beat Austria's Franz Klammer, the reigning Olympic champion, by almost two seconds in a World Cup Downhill, an enormous margin of victory in ski racing.

The Crazy Canucks will be officially inducted into the International Ski Racing Hall of Fame at the Legend of Honor banquet Saturday evening, March 20, at the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek.

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