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Locals hold own at Crankworx

Jesse Melamed sixth in Enduro World Series race; Buchar second in Garbanzo DH
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It'S ON Spanish rider Andreu Lacondeguy front flips over the front porch in the Dual Speed & Style competition on Saturday, Aug. 10. Photo by Sean St Denis crankworx.com

The Crankworx Whistler freeride mountain bike festival got off to a huge start this year with thousands of spectators lining the course for the Opening Fat Tire Crit and another big crowd for Saturday's Dual Speed & Style event, despite the decision to run it ahead of schedule to get ahead of a lightning warning. Sunday's Canadian Open Enduro race was a tough one for spectators to watch, but hundreds of locals made the effort to support the event by hiking up the various courses around the valley, and cheering on the finishers at the base of Whistler.

And that was only the beginning with 14 events packed into the festival's 10-day calendar. Some of the biggest events, including the Red Bull Joyride slopestyle, are still to come.

Squamish riders on podium in Fat Tire Crit

The third annual Fat Tire Criterium kicked off the10th edition of Crankworx Whistler with mountain bikers on slick tires racing an 800-metre course around Whistler Olympic Plaza.

Defending champion Carl Decker was the fastest male competitor, while Jean Ann Berkenpas pulled out a sprint finish win in the women's event.

The races were short at just 20 minutes in length featuring a pack of riders that was reduced over the course of the event by a motorbike riding sweep who randomly pulled competitors off the back of the pack. Competitors were required to ride mountain bikes with 26, 27.5 or 29-inch wheels. Each lap took between 45 and 50 seconds to ride. The loop consisted mostly of hard surface, although there was a short crushed gravel section to justify the mountain bike requirement.

Leah Guloien of Port Moody stayed well ahead of the sweep through the women's race and looked like she could win, but Jean Ann Berkenpas of Maple Ridge found extra fuel in the final seconds and beat her on the sprint.

"I tried to get away early on but there were enough strong girls to chase me," Berkenpas said after the race. "When Leah made a breakaway I worked to stay with her and managed to sprint away from her at the very end."

Brandi Heisterman of Squamish placed third.

Decker, from Oregon, came off the course and said he found it a bit scary in places.

"It was so tight between riders," said Decker, the defending champion. "It was about maintaining focus and not making errors. Letting your tires drift on pavement is pretty scary."

The racer from Bend finished ahead of Spencer Paxson of Seattle. Squamish's Greg Day finished in third place.

The six podium finishers shared in $4,500 in prize money.

Soderstrom takes Dual Speed & Style

The second annual Dual Speed and Style event at Crankworx Whistler is a difficult event to wrap your head around. Two riders go head to head on massive timed dual slalom courses with some big features, including a wall ride and two judged jumps. The rider with the best trick on a judged feature gets a time bonus over the other rider at the end.

That's where the strategy comes in. You need to be fast — the final measure is time, even with the deductions — but you also need to win at least half of the judged tricks. But tougher and more technical jumps can also take longer and a less than perfect landing can cost you critical fractions of a second.

Sweden's Martin Soderstrom won the dual speed and slalom event at Crankworx Les 2 Alpes in France earlier this season, and was the guy to beat once again.

In the first round Soderstrom defeated Mikey Haderer of the U.S., followed by wins over Yannick Granieri of France and Kyle Strait of the U.S. in the quarter and semi-finals. That set up a final dual against American Cam Zink, who advanced to the finals with wins over Americans Tyler McCaul and Paul Basagoitia, and Canadian Tom Van Steenbergen.

The two riders were neck-and-neck on their first trip down the course, with Soderstrom landing a corked 450 spin on the hip jump but losing the race to the bottom by half a second. With trick bonuses, Soderstrom had a full 1.05-second gap heading into the second run.

On the second run Soderstrom got the jump on Zink, with Zink opting for a slower backflip/can-can combo on the first jump. Zink then landed a huge front flip off the second jump to bridge to earn even more style points, but Soderstrom was too far ahead for it to matter. Still, Zink made up almost 0.4 seconds.

"This is a pretty good start!" said Soderstrom after the race.

For Soderstrom, who's competing in five events this year, the variety is what keeps the sport fresh and fun. When asked what it takes to compete in so many different disciplines, he shook his head.

"It takes quite a lot, actually," he said. "Most of it is in your head, to be motivated all the time to come back from injuries and bad results, to keep training all year round. For me, it's all about mixing up riding. Because I ride mountain bikes I can ride so many things — I can take it into the woods and ride trails, I can go into the skatepark or dirt jump park or BMX track, or into the foam pit. You can do so much on the same bike."

He's not kidding. Soderstrom, who rides for Specialized, brought exactly two bikes to Crankworx Whistler: one competition bike for everything and another downhill bike he brought to have fun riding the Whistler Mountain Bike Park in the downtime between events.

Soderstrom earned $3,000 for his win, while Zink came away with $2,000 and Kyle Strait $1,500.

For Zink, the dual speed and style format is a different kind of challenge.

"It's tough because you have to be fast and you have to do the biggest tricks, and there's also a lot of strategy," he said. "You can't see it, but we're all thinking really hard about every run and watching the other riders really closely. You're always asking yourself 'what's he going to do? Is it worth trying to do something bigger if it takes more time to do it?'

"It's always such a fine line."

For Zink, who's had his share of injuries over the years and has been battling a separated shoulder injury from earlier in the season, it was good to feel close to 100 per cent again. "All season it's been hurting," he said. "I could still ride but tonight was the first time I've raced this year where everything was feeling great."

Graves, Chausson win Enduro titles

Before it had even started, riders from around the world were already saying the course for SRAM Canadian Open Enduro presented by Specialized was the toughest in the world.

The one-day race format, the selection of white knuckle descents and the overall length of the five race stages — almost 50 minutes of racing for the fastest athletes, compared to 32 minutes for the race at Crankworx Les 2 Alpes, and 41 minutes for the three-day five-stage Colorado Freeride Festival — made the Crankworx race one to remember.

One racer's on-board GPS put the total riding distance at around 60km, including transitions and one gondola ride and trip up the Peak Chair. Total vertical was well over 3,000 metres, both gained and lost.

The men's category was a battle all day, but it was Jerome Clementz of France, the current Enduro World Series leader, who had a slight edge on the competition from the start. He won the first stage (Khyber Pass) and the second stage (It's Business Time to AMPM), was second on stage three (Pura Vida and Baby Snakes) and then won stage four (Billy's Epic and Bob's ReBob).

But everything changed on the fifth stage, a descent from the peak of Whistler Mountain including Top of the World. Despite having a 20 second lead on Australian Jared Graves, it was Graves who persevered on the long final descent to take the win.

"(Graves) was really strong, he beat me by 40 seconds on this stage and he deserved (the win)," said Clementz. "I played it a little bit safe, but not 40 seconds safe."

Graves had the opposite strategy, riding a little more conservatively on the other stages to avoid mechanicals and crashes, and then opening up on the last stage.

"Really, 20 seconds — I didn't think I'd take that on Jerome," he said. "I thought I'd win the stage, but 20 seconds? I couldn't be happier."

For Graves, winning an Enduro World Series event was special, but to win this particular race was even better.

"Crankworx is the one (event) everyone has been talking about all year, it's the one everyone wants to win. It's tough, it's technical. It's a real man's course... if you can win here you can win anywhere."

Fabien Barel of France actually placed third overall, but once a time penalty of five minutes was applied — the result of him accepting a shuttle ride during training in an event where riders are supposed to be self-supported — third place went to Jamie Nicoll of Australia.

Graves' official time was 47:57.18, with Clementz just over 12 seconds back. Nicoll was close to two minutes back.

Whistler had several riders in the race, led by Jesse Melamed in sixth overall against some of the top riders in the world. He was also the top Canadian.

Melamed was 16th on the first stage, moved up to 13th on the next stage and then placed an incredible third on stage three — a stage he feels he could have won if he didn't ride off course on one section. He was fifth on stage four, but hasn't ridden the bike park much recently and placed 18th on the final stage.

Melamed has had a few good stages and races this year at North American Enduro Tour events, but has also had his share of bad luck. Racing at home in Whistler after weeks on the road was a chance to lay a few demons to rest.

"I'm really happy to have five complete stages and finish," he said. "I would have never thought I'd be coming down (on par) with the fastest guys in the world. I thought it would take a couple of years at least (to be racing at that level) and to be doing that at this stage is great.

"I was hoping to be in the top 10, which I did, and I wanted to win a stage. Stage three was mine, but I gave it away at the bottom."

Melamed said it was great to have the community rallying behind him along the course, and to have some of the kids he's coached with WORCA cheering him on at the finish line. "I wanted to go faster for them," he said.

Other Whistler riders in the mix included Tyler Morland in 18th, Matt Ryan in 22nd, Nick Geddes in 25th and Dylan Wolsky in 26th out of 95 finishers.

In the women's race, Anne Caroline Chausson of France said she tried to race every stage as smooth as she could.

"It was a long day, and the stages were really technical, really physical," she said. "I'm super happy to be back on top of the podium after crashing in the first race of the season and trying to come back."

Tracy Moseley of Great Britain had won every previous race on the tour, but got off to a slow start, giving Chausson an early lead she couldn't catch — especially on the final stage where the French former World Downhill champion had a clear advantage and finished with a gap over 24 seconds.

Chausson's total time was 55:24.14, followed by Moseley 1:04.67 later and French rider Cecile Ravanel 50 seconds after that.

Other notable Whistler results included Spencer Wight placing third in junior, Conrad Murdoch racing unopposed to win Boys 13 to 15, and Todd Hellinga placing third Master Male 30-plus.

Hellinga has only been back in Whistler for a few weeks after spending a year in Nelson, and had no idea what to expect.

"I did that Enduro event in the bike park and felt so off the pace," he said. "It was the first bike park riding I'd done all year, so I re-evaluated my expectations. But I had a good week of riding, I went and rode the west side trails with (Dylan) Wolsky and Jesse (Melamed), and did Billy's Epic, and it was like, 'Oh yeah, I know these trails, I did half of them in the Five Kings last year,' and I started feeling pretty good about it."

Hellinga had no idea where he was in the standings until the third stage, when someone let him know he was sitting in third place. That ramped up the anxiety a little and on the third stage felt the worst, he said, but in the end he calmed down and just tried to focus on riding smooth.

"I just wanted to ride smooth, ride consistently and try not to have any big moments or big mechanicals," he said.

Emily Slaco has been to a few enduro events now, and placed 16th in the pro women's category. Her goal was also to race smoothly and have fun.

"My only goal was to finish everything with no mechanicals and no crashes," she said, although she did have a crash on the first untimed descent on Top of the World. "There's a fine line between pushing too hard and staying smooth, and I tried to stay on the smooth side of it. It's pretty dusty and bumpy, and you could get out of control pretty fast."

Slaco said the fourth stage was her favourite. "I had never ridden that trail (Billy's Epic) until this week, and it's so much fun.

Matt Ryan's day could have been better. His rear shock broke on the first descent down Khyber, leaving him riding a hardtail until he could repair it between the fourth and fifth stages. On the last stage he hoped to make up some lost time in the bike park, but says there was a lot of traffic and it was hard to find passing opportunities.

Still, Ryan is nothing if not an optimist, and made the best of his day.

"My favourite section was actually Khyber Pass (stage one), it was like a full-on motocross course with the ruts and braided lines everywhere. It was fun to try to gap all of those things and just go for it, although that's probably why my shock broke."

Dylan Wolsky, who has been on the road the past six weeks attending North American and World Series enduro races, was happy overall with his performance, although a few mistakes put him back.

"Basically I maintained today, I've been going too hard (at other events) and have missed a few results because of crashes and mechanicals," he said. "I wanted to ride conservatively today and stay on my bike, especially on the last stage.

"Overall I'm pretty happy to be in the mix this year, I've had a few results in the top 10 and some really good stages. It was good to be home after six weeks travelling to events and living out of a van. To come home for a week's rest felt amazing."

Nick Geddes has been pursuing downhill gold for the last few years, picking up where he left off after missing a season in a battle with leukemia. He's been posting good results, but recently made the decision to focus more on Enduro.

"I used to race cross-country and downhill on the same weekend while doing the BC Cup races, and I kind of miss that," he said. "(Enduro) is really the best of both worlds, and I've been having the most fun on my trail bike right now. That's my motivation."

Geddes knows he was lucky to finish after his rear wheel came off on Top of the World. Somehow he managed not to break his chain or rear derailleur in the process, but did lose time and a few positions making repairs. The race was so close that even a minute would have made the difference between 25th and finishing in the top 10.

Villegas, Ragot take Garbanzo DH

The 2013 edition of the Garbanzo DH was wide open this year with the first weekend of Crankworx overlapping with a World Cup downhill in Quebec, and the usual crowd of World Cup racers was a little thinner than usual — although quite a few of the top riders made the trip, including riders like Danny Hart and Emmeline Ragot.

The Whistler riders held their own against riders from 20 different countries.

In pro men, Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas of Colombia posted the fastest time, clearing the 3,400 vertical foot course in a speedy 12 minutes, 28.24 seconds. Sam Blenkisop of New Zealand was second, followed by Remi Gauvin of Nanoose Bay in 12:35.67 and 12:48.71 respectively. Whistler's Chris Kovarik and Tyler Allison were fourth and seventh respectively out of 88 racers.

Emmeline Ragot of France won the pro women's race in 14:19.83, trailed by Whistler's Claire Buchar in 14:39.67 and Holly Feniak from the Sunshine Coast in 14:49.32.

In Junior Amateur, Whistler's Jack Iles got edged by Lucas Eduardo Alves de Borba of Brazil for the title, 13:16.17 to 13:29.29. Squamish's Lee Jackson was third in 13:31.62.

In Boys 13 to 15, Whistler's Finn Iles placed second in 14:08.18, finishing 8.1 seconds behind Magnus Manson from the Sunshine Coast. Remi Morton of Australia was third in 14:15.02. Whistler's Denis Courchesne was second in Senior Amateur 19 to 29 in 13:44.27, finishing behind Daniel Meilink of New Zealand. Third place went to Alex Currie from North Vancouver.

In the Masters (30-plus) Craig Wilson of Qualicum Beach was first in 13:52.75, followed by U.K. riders Kristopher Atkinson in 14:04.37 and Richard Bedford in 14:16.76. Jon Moon and Andrew Gunn from Whistler were fourth and fifth.

Complete results are online at www.crankworx.com.

Best still to come

Most of Crankworx's 14 scheduled events are still to come, including the Red Bull Joyride slopestyle event — the biggest slopestyle event in the world this year with a prize purse of $50,000. Other events taking place from Thursday, Aug. 15 through Sunday include the Thursday's Teva Best Trick Challenge and Ultimate Pump Track Challenge, Friday's Official Whip-Off World Championship and Giant Dual Slalom, Saturday's Trialsworx competition, Canadian Cheese Rolling Championship and slopestyle, and Sunday's Canadian Open DH.

For a complete rundown of events still to come, visit www.piquenewsmagzine.com.

— Fat Tire Crit report by John French