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Crankworx touches down in August

The dates have been announced for the fourth annual Kokanee Crankworx freeride mountain bike festival, with the festival taking place over nine days, Aug. 9-17.

The dates have been announced for the fourth annual Kokanee Crankworx freeride mountain bike festival, with the festival taking place over nine days, Aug. 9-17.

Most popular events will be back, including the Kokanee Slopestyle, Garbanzo Downhill, Jim Bean Air Downhill, and Canadian Open Downhill, while the four-cross has been dropped this year. The dual slalom will be returning from last year, as well as the Womenzworx clinics and pro-am events.

New this year is a best trick contest, a giant slalom, a trials competition called Trialsworx, and a kids contest called Kidsworx. The Ken Quon “Ride On” fundraiser has also been moved into the festival, adding a cross-country event to the schedule.

The schedule and roster of events is preliminary at this point, but visit www.crankworx.com in the coming months to get updates.

 

MOMAR returns to Squamish

If you’ve ever wanted to experience an adventure race for yourself, a good opportunity is the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing series. MOMAR has been running one-day adventure races in the province for the past eight years, but this is only the second year that MOMAR is hosting an event in Squamish.

The Squamish event, which takes place May 10, will kick off the series this year with stops in the Cowichan Valley on July 26, and Cumberland on Sept. 27.

Jen Segger-Gigg, currently one of the top adventure racers in the world, will once again design the course using trails and terrain in the Squamish area. The course will include the usual hiking, navigation, trail running, and mountain biking, but with a few added challenges along the way like a rappel line to make things interesting.

Participants can race solo, or as part of a team of two or team of four. The cost is $125 per racer until April 10, when the cost will go up to $140.

Registration is available at www.mindovermountain.com.

 

Team Whistler on a roll

After a disappointing first bike race, when crashes caused the eventual cancellation of the race and impacted every field of racers, Team Whistler was back in the saddle this past weekend at the Team Escape Velocity Spring Series.

In the first race on Saturday, March 15, taking place on Snake Hill, Mike Boehm placed third, Trevor Hopkins fifth, and Josh Stott 10 th in the B classification, while Shani Laxon made the top-10 in the C group.

The A group also featured a battle of Sea to Sky riders, with Neal Kindree of Squamish edging out Whistler’s Will Routley for third place. To be fair, Routley was working to get teammate Ryan Anderson to the front to win the race.

Sunday’s race in Bradner was tougher for Team Whistler, as riders in the B group found themselves blocked out by the peleton and unable to pedal into the top-five. Tony Routley was even nudged onto the soft shoulder, after working his way into a decent position heading into the finish.

In the C group, both Team Whistler riders — Jennifer Tabbernor and Shani Laxon — went down in a crash on the first lap.

 

Free spot in Runner’s Yoga workshop

Van Powel, the founder of Runner’s Yoga, is offering one spot in his half-day workshop on April 12 to a single parent, and has arranged for a baby sitter to help the parent on that day, courtesy of the Nanny Network.

The winner will be selected randomly from names submitted at www.runnersyoga.com, or by calling Powel at 604-932-0621.

Runner’s Yoga is a shortened yoga program for people who run that was designed to prevent running injuries and improve performance.

 

Janyk, Osborne-Paradis to host Whistler ski camp

For the second year Mike Janyk and Manuel Osborne-Paradis are hosting an end-of-season ski camp for athletes with the talent and drive but who may be lacking the financial resources to participate in summer training programs.

The camp is open to B.C. athletes born in 1992 and 1993 who show the necessary dedication but also can show their need. Athletes should write a letter up to 250 words explaining why they would like to participate and what they would like to learn in the camp. A coach’s recommendation should also be submitted along with the athlete letter to cowboyscamp@live.com.

The camp will take place over four days, from April 24 to 27. Athletes must provide their own transportation to Whistler and home again, while all camp costs will be covered by sponsors — accommodation by the Resort Municipality of Whistler and ski passes and hill space by Whistler-Blackcomb.

 

Two spots left for B.C. Bike Race

The seven-day B.C. Bike Race, which is in its second year, has sold 478 of the 480 spots available this year, and is hosting a contest for the last two spots for May 18. You can register online at www.bcbikerace.com.

The race will cover approximately 480 km of road and trail, getting underway in Victoria on June 28, and wrapping up in Whistler on July 4. The course is a little different this year, with organizers adding more singletrack to the mix, as well as a day of riding in Squamish.

 

Mushers in the medals

A group of Whistler dogsled teams took part in the annual Caledonia Classic Dog Sled Sprint Race recently, racing across a frozen lake near Fort St. James.

All of the teams were from Whistler Doglsedding, and more used to mountain trails than frozen legs, but all five local teams managed to finish in the top-10.

Richard Critterden placed third in the 10-dog, 10-mile race (16 km), while Chris Coghlan was third in the 6-dog, 6-mile category.

Nico Hazel was fourth in the 4-dog, 4-mile race, while Same Decoste and Will Jackson were sixth and seventh in the same category.

“It was like running on Green Lake,” said Critterden. “Here we have trails that we follow but there it was an open lake with a shallow snowmobile track. At first the dogs really didn’t know where to go. By the second day they were awesome.”

Racers competed on both days, and the winners were the teams with the lowest combined time.

 

Whistler snowboarders heading to the nationals

The B.C. Snowboard Association released a list of riders qualified to compete at the upcoming national championships at Cypress Mountain April 2-5. Whistler will be well-represented by the following athletes:

Halfpipe — Helen Schettini, Kara Rennie, Maia Chaput, Dan Raymond, Ryan Rausch, Dan Longo, Gerald Austman, Jonathan Redman, Neil Connolly, Tamo Campos (Whistler Valley Snowboard Club), Crispin Lipscomb, Justin Lamoureux, Mercedes Nicoll, Katie Tsuyuki.

Snowboardcross — Maëlle Ricker, Myrica Hinich, Allison Pasemko, Derek Wintermans, Adam Livingstone, Jamie May, Jonathan Redman.