Wheel Life Rally 2026: Onewheel Race Recap

Sam Varner and Garrett Smith split the Mens Pro wins at Wheel Life Rally on August 8, 2026, with Varner taking Off-Road in 04:33.020 and Smith taking Enduro in 04:57.800. Mike Duong swept both Mens Amateur races, and Donavan Hodgkinson swept both Mens Novice races. The event ran under USA FLT sanctioning at The Wick 338 in Southwick, Massachusetts.

The mass start races at Wheel Life Rally tested the athletes endurance and tenacity. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

Wheel Life Rally is one of USA FLT's East Coast stops on the 2026 season circuit, run at The Wick 338 in Southwick, Massachusetts and organized by Erwin Green. Racing split into two formats across four divisions (Mens Pro, Mens Amateur, Mens Novice, and Clydesdales, 213 lbs+): a morning Off-Road session where each rider ran two attempts on the Woods, Flat, and Obstacle tracks, with their three best times combined into an overall Off-Road time; and an afternoon Enduro, a mass-start race combining all three tracks that closed out the day.

Who Won Mens Pro at Wheel Life Rally?

Garrett Smith putting in his USA FLT official time. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

Garrett Smith won Enduro in 04:57.800, with Sam Varner second and Joshua Ledford third. Varner turned the tables in Off-Road, winning in 04:33.020 with Ledford second and Smith third. The three riders were separated by less than two seconds in Enduro and less than six seconds in Off-Road.

Enduro, Mens Pro:

Off-Road, Mens Pro:

"Oh man, always we got Garrett and we got Sam, Sam Varner," Ledford said. "After all three segments, I think Sam had me by like 1.5 and I had Garrett by like within maybe two seconds."

He wasn't sure how the day would shake out. "I think I ended up in third, maybe second. I don't know, we'll see," Ledford said at the time. The results bore that out almost exactly: third in Enduro, second in Off-Road.

Ledford, making his first trip to Wheel Life Rally, adjusted his setup for the flatter East Coast terrain. "I made the nose quite a bit stiffer," he said, adding, "I think I turned my turn tilt up a little bit." He described the course itself as demanding all-around skill: "there's so much sand, there's dirt, we hit some concrete, we hit some grass."

Who Won Mens Amateur and Mens Novice at Wheel Life Rally?

Mike Duong taking a corner on the Woods Track. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

Mike Duong won both Mens Amateur races, and Donavan Hodgkinson won both Mens Novice races.

Enduro, Mens Amateur:

Enduro, Mens Novice:

Off-Road, Mens Amateur:

Off-Road, Mens Novice:

Who Won Clydesdales at Wheel Life Rally?

Kyle Robinson won the Clydesdales (213 lbs+) Enduro race by half a second over vincent cotineau. Off-Road results for Clydesdales were not published as of this writing.

Enduro, Clydesdales (213 lbs+):

How Did the Flat, Woods, and Obstacle Track Races Work?

Beyond the Off-Road best-times format above, the afternoon also ran mass-start races on the Flat and Woods tracks, plus class-based heats on Obstacle since that track only fit four to five riders at once. Unlike Off-Road, riders raced head to head, and results by finishing position, not clock time, decided each class. Some Novice and Amateur classes had only two entrants after a few riders opted out.

Sam Varner and Josh Ledford went 1-2 in Flat and Woods, with Garrett Smith taking third both times before flipping the order in Enduro, where Smith won outright with Varner second and Ledford third. After points were totaled across all four tracks, Varner was named the Mens Pro mass-start grand champion, a repeat title for him. Sam Varner also raced EUC for the first time this event, splitting his day between both sports.

Sam Varner and Garrett Smith with the photo finish on the Obstacle Track where Sam edged out Garrett by inches. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

The Obstacle Track Pro race produced one of the tightest finishes of the day between Varner and Smith. Organizers reviewed finish-line camera footage to confirm Varner crossed first by roughly half a board length, even though Smith's official time showed him about a tenth of a second faster. Because the mass start uses a shared elastic-band release rather than individual clocks, a racer who launches slightly ahead of the group can post a faster recorded time without actually crossing the line first, which is what happened here.

Kyle Robinson racing in the Clydesdale division where he placed 1st. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

The Clydesdales class had its own mid-event correction: Kyle Robinson's individually-run Woods Track heat was voided and re-started as a proper mass start after organizers realized it had been run incorrectly, and he fell in the do-over, costing him the win he'd already posted.

Flat Track:

Woods Track:

Obstacle Track:

The Enduro time trial covered earlier in this article is this same mass-start race: Garrett Smith's Enduro win, Sam Varner's second, Josh Ledford's third, and the Clydesdales result all came out of this single event, not a separate race.

Wheel Life Rally Grand Champion: Sam Varner

Sam Varner racing Onewheel. Photo credit Seth Johnson (USA FLT).

Sam Varner took the most points in the mass start races to be declared Onewheel Grand Champion of Wheel Life Rally 2026.

A microburst mid-afternoon cut the awards presentation short; organizers handed out the grand championship trophies and two special awards in the rain before wrapping the ceremony. Vincent Cotineau also picked up a jousting award.

Full results and points are available on the Wheel Life Rally event page. Read the event preview for background on the venue and format.