The factors seemed to be working against Casey Brown on Thursday afternoon.
As the Revelstoke resident sought out her fifth consecutive Official Whip-Off World Championships win, as well as a clean sweep of all four Crankworx whip-off events, she was battling more than just the competition.
Brown had sustained a shoulder injury in training, forcing her out of the Canadian Open Enduro on Sunday, but she felt she could at least test it out up at Crabapple Hits on Thursday. Sure, enough, she kept her streak intact.
"It was cool to take the win today, especially with the adversity of having a bum shoulder. The wind was pretty scary today for me. It takes a lot to get these jumps and clear them," she said. "I'm really surprised, actually, since I didn't feel very good because of my shoulder and it's hard to judge what you're actually doing out there."
In a repeat of the 2015 podium, fellow Revelstoke resident Lorraine Blancher was second and Switzerland's Emilie Siegenthaler earned the third-place slot.
As for the men, Allan Cooke of Santa Cruz, Calif. rose from third in 2016 to the top spot this year, beating out fellow American Austin "Bubba" Warren and France's Anthony Rocci.
Cooke had a solid BMX and motocross career before cutting back on riding to focus on his position as team manager with Santa Cruz, though he only recently started competing in whip-offs - with pretty strong success.
After also battling the elements early, Cooke said he was able to give his best in the final.
"It was a little sketchy in the beginning, going long and coming up short, but when they did the cut to the top 30, the wind pretty much died, so it was game on at that point," he said.
