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Athertons dominate Crankworx

J.D. Swanguen upsets to take opening dual slalom
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Low Rider California's J.D. Swanguen exercised a few mons in this year's dual slalom, winning the pro category after bowing out last year with a crash in the semi-final. Photo by Justa Jeskova

The weather turned wet and cold for the opening weekend of Crankworx, but that wasn’t always a bad thing for riders. It kept the dust down and improved traction for some riders in the Telus Dual Slalom, and if you were riding the right tires in the Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill — and most of the top riders were coming off two wet World Cup events in Quebec — it worked to your advantage.

In the first two events, World Cup leaders Gee and Rachel Atherton picked up wins in the Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill, with Rachel also picking up second place in the dual slalom.

Telus Dual Slalom

The day started with morning qualification runs for most competitors, leading to the first head-to-head races in the afternoon. British racer Rachel Atherton lost track of how many runs she made in the course, but didn’t lose a race all day until the finals, when she was edged out by Dutch rider Anneke Beerten.

“(The course) was actually pretty good with the rain,” said Atherton. “It actually got pretty cut up in some sections, but it almost made it better because you could just roll through it. The course was sick, it was so much fun.

“You’re a bit relieved when it’s over, we’ve done so many runs to get here, but it’s what we all do and we love it.”

Atherton, this year’s overall World Cup downhill champion, will also be racing the bigger Giant Slalom course, as well as all three downhill races during Crankworx. When asked how she keeps her mind sharp when racing and training day after day, she said “lots of early nights.”

“I’ve been out practicing since 11 this morning, so we’ve all been out here for nine hours, and everyone’s wet and cold. I’m just happy for Anneke, she was killing it all day.”

Fionn Griffiths, also British, placed third overall by edging out Kathy Pruitt. She raced Atherton in the semi-final, and had some trouble with traction.

“It was pretty greasy and a little unpredictable in places, but I’m happy I came in third and that Rachel (Atherton) and I pulled it together for some pretty decent runs,” she said. “The course is really picture perfect, it was beautiful in the dry and handled the water pretty well — it’s every slalom lovers wet dream basically.”

Griffiths had the same knobby tires on her bike that she raced at the previous World Cup in Bromont, Quebec. If she had known the conditions she might have switched to a more aggressive tread, but in the end she was glad she didn’t decide to run slicks tires like other competitors after training in dry conditions on Friday.

“Overall I’m pretty happy. I would have liked to have been up there more but I did the best I could today. Next race.”

Squamish’s Miranda Miller qualified in the Pro Women’s category, but was bumped out by West Vancouver’s Micayla Gatto in the first round. Gatto was then bumped by Griffiths.

In the men’s competition it was J.D. Swanguen’s year. Swanguen was an underdog in 2007 when he raced in the first dual slalom held in Crankworx, and crashed in the semi-final after getting the edge on then World Cup champion Sam Hill of Australia. He was determined not to let anything like that happen this year.

“I’ve been planning on doing well here since last year’s slalom and the whole crash upset, and everything went really well and happened like it should have happened last year,” he said. “Slalom is something I really enjoy, and coming into this track I knew there would be some good racing and felt strong that I could win.”

Swanguen got an unexpected boost in the early rounds when favourite Brian Lopes was eliminated in the second round, Cedric Gracia made his exit in the third round, and he knocked out Hill himself in the second round.

In the final round he faced Nico Vink of Belgium, the only rider that appeared to be enjoying himself as much as Swanguen when the weather turned.

“The course went from wet to dry and back to wet over the day, but for me the track was almost better after the rain,” said Swanguen. “It was stickier, tackier, there was no dust, and no rooster tails in your face — lots of guys were getting roostered yesterday in the dust, and you can’t see, you can’t breathe.”

Vink also enjoyed the conditions.

“It’s a really good track, I like pump tracks and trails, and you didn’t need to do any pedaling so that was good. I was a little amazed when (Lopes and Hill) went out early, but I know I’m good at riding this kind of shit. The weather is the same for everybody, so it’s all good. I had control all the time, but was just a little too slow.”

Chris Herndon edged out his teammate Cody Waren in the small final to place third.

In the junior categories, Luke Stevens edged out Nicholas Geddes to take first place, while Noah Brousseau beat Alexander Geddes in the small final.

In the Junior Men 16 to 18 category Dylan Dunkerton beat out Luciano Worl for the win. Kyle Marshall beat Whistler’s Tyler Allison in the small final. Allison was one of the youngest competitors in the category and was competing with a broken wrist after a crash at the nationals.

In Senior Men 19 to 29, Curtis Robinson was first, followed by Tim Pearson, Ken Faubert and Brad Tibbs.

The Master Men 30-plus category ended up in battle of Dincus jerseys, with Cory Leclerc edging out Chad Hendren for the win. Travis Eigeard was third and Clinton Fowler fourth.

Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill

The Atherton family has been dominating the World Cup circuit this year, and showed everyone why on Sunday as Rachel and her brother Gee won the pro categories in the Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill.

The Garbanzo DH is arguably one of the longest and most challenging downhill races in the world, with competitors dropping more than 1,000 metres over a course just under 10 km in length.

The course was Original Sin, Blue Velvet, In Deep, Duffman, Golden Triangle, World Cup Downhill, Ho Chi Min, and Monkey Hands to the finish in Whistler Village.

“We practised on dry trails well before the race, so when the rain came it changed everything,” said Gee Atherton. “You had to pick new lines and just go for it.”

That may be an understatement. Atherton finished the course in 14 minutes and 20.4 seconds.

Sam Hill of Australia, the reigning Garbanzo champion, finished in 14:37 after crashing in the middle of the course and losing a shoe.

Marc Beaumont of the U.K. was third in 14:44.6, while Dan Atheron was fourth in 14:44.

The top Canadian was Victoria’s Andrew Mitchell in 14 th with a time of 15:19.5, while Whistler’s Jamie Biluk placed 15 th in 15:19.7. A total of 87 racers took part in the Pro Men’s category.

On the women’s side, Rachel Atherton had almost 40 seconds on Fionn Griffiths with times of 16:48.9 and 17:25.1 respectively. North Vancouver’s Danice Uyesugi was third in 18:32.7, followed by Whistler’s Rebecca McQueen in 18:41.9. Four riders DNF’ed, including Squamish’s Miranda Miller and California’s Kathy Pruit.

In Junior Amateur Women 13 to 18, Holly Feniak of Sechelt raced alone and finished in 21:00.6.

In Senior Amateur Women 19-Plus, Eleanor Maxfield was first by more than a minute in 18:59.5. Carolyn Kavanagh of North Vancouver was second in 21:09.7, and Dawn Cashen of Kelowna third in 21:27.7.

Luke Stevens of Calgary picked up his second Crankworx win in the Boys 13 to 15 category in 16:07.5. Nick Geddes was second in 16:12.3, followed by Linden Feniak in third in 16:36.2.

In Junior Amateur Men 16 to 18, Marcelo Gutierrez of Columbia placed first in a Pro category-worthy 15:27.7. Kyle Marshall of Victoria was second in 16:00.0, while Whistler’s Tyler Allison was third in 16:03.0. There were 45 riders in the category.

In Senior Amateur Men 19 to 29, James Swinden of Whistler was first in 15:40.1, followed by James McSkimming in 16:01.1. U.K. rider Matthew Parkinson was third in 16:03.3.

In Master Amateur Men 30-Plus, Adam Wright of Whistler was first in 15:58.0, followed by locals Mathieu Hebert in 16:48.3, and Chad Hendren in 16:53.0.

For all its distance and difficulty, some 307 riders took part in this year’s Garbanzo race.