Youth, open and adaptive-category dual slalom riders saw action on Monday afternoon, many of them competing while their Garbanzo Downhill (DH) peers battled elsewhere.
Anthony Shelly put himself atop the U19 men's podium, outdueling fellow local Rafe Hudson as Jed Fleming wound up third. Meanwhile, Alyana Van Horn beat OG Canadian Open DH junior champ Indy Deavoll and Emily Wilson in a small U19 ladies field.
"It's good to get a good race in the books," Shelly remarked. "I've been struggling a little bit with the speed lately, so it's a good confidence boost for me. The corners, some of them didn't line up very well, and it was kind of a weird track so it was more about flowing rather than actually pushing as hard as possible. You get a lot of laps and the [slalom] tracks are always really fun. One of my strengths is berms and rollers.
"[Rafe] is one of my good mates, actually, and it was fun to ride against him. I've ridden in Crankworx since I was seven years old. Every single year I've come back and it's cool to keep that tradition going on."
Future Frameworks speedster Cami Bragg prevailed in a nailbiting U17 matchup against Arleigh Kemp, who on Saturday managed the second-fastest time among all women's OG DH contestants. Kemp's Instinct Development teammate, Skye Sherman, rounded out the top three.
"Some very close and very fun racing today!" Kemp wrote on her Instagram account. "So great to have lots of tight battles with [Cami]. Congrats on the win!"
The U17 boys' medals went to Eli Bundy, Levi Herriges and Boston Bryant in that order.
Some athletes, like U15s Mack Manietta and Megan Pretorius, participated in both the Garbanzo DH and dual slalom. That meant a heavy schedule: a 14-odd minute Garbo run followed quickly by multiple slalom heats. An undeterred Manietta took command, winning the long DH by over a minute before earning dual slalom gold over runner-up Xavier Harrisson and Seth Addario in third.
Pretorius was waylaid by huge mechanical mishaps during both of her events, yet came away with two silvers nonetheless. In slalom, she ranked above Madeline Lloyd and had to borrow a friend's bike in a losing final effort against Keira Burborough-Murphy.
Other dual slalom victors include Grant Untiedt (open male), Ayva Gaudet (open female), Jayden Glentworth (adaptive male) and Amanda Timm (adaptive female).
Click here for more Crankworx Whistler results.
