The results of the Crankworx race to make the best movie are in — and humour proved a winning ingredient.
Team Kyle Norbraten and Matt Dennison took first place and $5,000 with The Sickest Edit Ever — a hilarious confrontation between a mountan biking Rambo and the snooty roller bladers threatening to take over Whistler and the mountain bike park.
They were crowned winners after short films by six athlete competitors and their teams were shown in a full Whistler Olympic Plaza on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
When their film was introduced, Dennison said he decided to make a new character for his leading man, Norbraten.
"How can you not like Norbs?" he said, gesturing to Nobraten on stage.
"Norbs is a character unto himself. You say anything to him and he laughs at you. So it was, 'What can be do with Norbs that is funny?'"
Norbraten said he hadn't seen the movie until that night.
Dennison also won Dirt Diaries in 2014.
The judges said the event was getting better every year in terms of both the creativity and the riding. Attendence was also higher.
After being named the winners, Norbraten and Dennison rushed to the stage.
"We are so excited!" Norbraten said.
"Since it was the first time, I thought it was hilarious. It was pretty weird seeing myself so serious with a deep voice like that."
Dennison added: "We've got a blooper reel and we might have to post that somewhere.
"Everybody says it, but we had such a good team — with passionate people anything is possible. It was probably the best team I've had on any shoot ever."
Transplanted Frenchman Yoann Barelli and filmmaker Mike Gamble came second with Zehab, which showed Barelli turning the biking skills of his friends into a potent drug. They took home $3,000.
Barelli had a good week on the hill, too, coming second in the SRAM Canadian Open Enduro and fourth in Garbanzo DH.
And Jesse Melamed and Mike Berkowitz came third with their cowboy-inspired flick, Gunspoke. Sheriff Melamed had a problem the other competitors didn't have to contend with — a broken bone in his foot — which meant he chased the bad guys on crutches.
The other competitors were Sarah Leishman, Rémy Métailler and Charlie Sponsel.
The winner of the Deep Summer photo challenge will be in Pique Newsmagazine next issue.
