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Thousands turn out for Crankworx events

Local riders hold their own against global riders
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15,000 turn out to take in competition, music. Photo by Maureen Provencal

The 10-day Crankworx Freeride Mountain Bike Festival wrapped up Sunday and by all measures it was a success. For the most part numbers were up for events, and judging by the wide range of hometowns represented the organizers succeeded in making it a North American and global event.

The crowds were also larger with a reported 15,000 spectators turning out for the Kokanee Slopestyle in the Boneyard on Saturday night.

"No where else in the world, or at any other time, is the progression of mountain biking so apparent," said Rob McSkimming, VP of business development for Whistler-Blackcomb.

The third annual Crankworx festival was organized by Events Whistler, which includes Whistler-Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the RMOW. The addition of headline sponsors like Kokanee also provide national exposure for the event, while enabling organizers to increase the prize money this year by over $10,000.

Lopes, Ashton claim Air DH crowns

Junior category overflows with 114 starters

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s famed A-Line has the distinction of being the most ridden trail anywhere in the world, and it’s easy to see why. It’s wide, smooth, and completely covered from top to bottom with over 200 table top jumps, step-ups, step-downs, berms, drops and other features.

Hence the popularity of the annual Jim Beam Air Downhill on Wednesday, July 26, which has sold out for the last three of its five years. The race is also getting more international, attracting some of the top World Cup racers as well as the top national, regional and local riders.

California’s Brian Lopes, who placed second last year, crossed the line in 4:19.05 to take the win. Not far behind was Cedric Gracia of France, who won the event the previous two years and crossed the line in 4:21.43. Australian rider Bryn Atkinson placed third in 4:21.43.

Andrew Mitchell, who won Sunday’s national downhill champion, was fourth in 4:22.05.

Jeff Beatty, the top Whistler rider in the 2005 Air Downhill, missed the event with an injury, but one local rider, Dave West, cracked the top 10, finishing in seventh place.

Other Sea to Sky riders in the top-30 of the field were Adam Billinghurst 19 th , J.S. Therrien 20 th , Craig Yates 23 rd , James Bashford 27 th , Kyle Ritchie 28 th , Kenny Smith 29 th , and Tyler Morland 30 th .

In the women’s pro event, Whistler’s Jen Ashton took first place while edging out some of the top World Cup downhill racers.

Her time of 4:44.32 was almost three seconds faster than Fionn Griffiths of England, who placed second in 4:47.13.

Vancouver’s Danika Schroeter was third in a time of 4:48.29.

Other locals in the top-10 were Angela Teng fifth, Katrina Strand seventh, and Brook Baker ninth.

The largest category of the day was Junior Amateur with an unheard of 114 racers taking part.

Nanaimo’s Steve Smith took first place with a time of 4:32.30, over four seconds faster than North Vancouver’s Ryan VanderHam. Kelowna’s Brad Hamilton was third.

The top local rider was Kyle McDonald in seventh place, followed 0.05 seconds later by Tyler Allison. James McSkimming was 12 th , Ian Morrison 17 th , Simon d’Artois 37 th , Kyle Fortin 39 th , and Max Horner 42 nd to round out the top-50.

Miranda Miller and Jessica Allouche of Squamish were first and second in the women’s Junior Amateur category in 5:07.30 and 5:08.55 respectively.

Pascale Valani raced unopposed in the women’s Master Amateur category. In the Senior Amateur Ladies Bethany Parsons of Victoria beat out Courtney Wittenburg of Squamish and Israeli rider Nil Goren.

In the Men’s Senior Amateur category Adrian Reagh of Kelowna nabbed the top spot, followed by Shannon Rozel of North Vancouver. Whistler’s Andrew Gunn was third. Other local riders in the top-30 were Seb Kemp sixth, Brad Bethune seventh, Tristan Merrick eighth, Christian Stadler ninth, Josh Oosterveld 12 th , Sam Gothorp 15 th , and Richard Hunter 25 th .

In Master Amateur, Travis Eigeard and Darcy Wittenburg of Squamish were first and second, while third went to Eric Anderson of Port Coquitlam. Philip Mcgrath was the top local rider in fifth, while Erron Mccurdy was 13 th and Chris Armstrong 17 th .

Whistler’s Stacy Kohut easily took the four-wheel category in 5:35:62, followed by Pemberton’s Johnny Therien in second with a time of 6:01.46. This year two riders from California also came to race, Eric Lindsley and Gavin Williamson, who placed third and fourth respectively.

Graves, Kinter take Nissan Biker X

This is the fifth year that Whistler has hosted a professional bikercross or four-cross event, and once again it was the World Cup athletes that set the pace in Friday’s race.

In the pro women’s category, Washington’s Jill Kinter took the gold medal and top prize after edging out Great Britain’s Fionn Griffiths, Washington’s Leana Gerrard and Colorado’s Emily Johnston in the final heat.

Kinter is running away in the overall World Cup 4X standings with 1,120 points, while Griffiths is sitting eighth.

For the pro men Australia’s Jared Graves took the win, finishing just ahead of French rider (and part-time Whistler resident) Cedric Gracia. Mich Hannah of Australia claimed third, while Brian Lopes of California – last year’s winner – had to settle for fourth.

Graves is currently sitting second on the World Cup list, while Gracia is seventh.

Only a few B.C. riders signed up for the men’s race, with national downhill champion Andrew Mitchell (no relation to author) placing 11 th . Vancouver’s Adam Muys was 18 th , Squamish’s J.S. Therrien 19 th , and Whistler’s Mason Mashon 25 th .

There was also a four-wheeler race, which once again went to Whistler’s Stacy Kohut. Johnny Therien of Pemberton was second by just under seven seconds, and Eric Lindsley of California was third.

Kohut got some of the biggest cheers of the day for attacking the course, which was tougher and more technical than in past years and included some difficult drops, step-ups and transitions. Still, the former ski racer was able to carry enough speed when he needed it, and push himself through the rhythm sections without losing too much time.

In the Junior Amateur category, Coquitlam rider Tyler Gorz took the win, followed by California’s Tyler McCaul. Adam McConaghy of Prince George was third and Kyle Lockyer of Toronto fourth.

In Master Amateur Jason Halvesson was first, while Brian Onofrichuk of Port Coquitlam, Clinton Fowler of Seattle and John Starcevic of Maple ridge were second through fourth.

In Senior Amateur, Chris Jordan of Bend, Oregon took the gold sprocket. Brett Hornfelt of Quesnel was second, Bryan Goddard of California third and Justin Willoughby fourth.

Kokanee Slopestyle a battle of Camerons

Now in its third year, the Kokanee Slopestyle was the first freeride event of its kind in the world. The course is always a mix of North Shore style stunts, dirt jumps, drops, walls and other features, and this year was no exception.

Event founder and course designer Richie Schley upped the stakes once again. Some of the features were familiar – the drop off the Giro trailer, the sets of dirt jumps and gap jumps, the road gap, the gap to teeter totter – but there was a lot that had never been seen before. The main feature was the finale, a series of three step-up bridges to a final launch off a 25-foot drop over a 20-foot television screen. Other features include a reworked Kokanee box (formerly "Staff Housing"), a suspended wall ride, a tight "C" wall ride, and a new start box, run-in that got the riders airborne almost right out of the gate.

It was a two-run format for the final 20 riders (23 qualified but five dropped out with injuries), narrowing the field down to just eight riders for the two-run superfinal. Only the best superfinal score would count.

Interestingly, first, second and third in this year’s slopestyle went to the riders who were third, fourth and fifth last year.

Nevada’s Cameron Zink took the top spot and a cheque for $7.500 after qualifying in fourth place.

Zink won the superfinal on his first run, which included a one-foot backflip on the step up and a 360 off the final gap over the television screen, as well as a few BMX-style moves off the dirt jumps, and quarterpipe transition. He attempted to top that on his second run with a flip over the step down, then lost control while attempting another flip on the step up.

Although the other riders went for it, nobody could touch Zink’s first run score of 34.2.

Cameron McCaul of California came the closest, also on his first run. He landed a backflip off the step down, launched a big Indian Air on the step up, and did a bar spin on the final gap over the screen. His top score was a 33.2, good for $3,500 and the silver sprocket.

Kyle Strait, another California rider, picked up third place and $2,500 with a run that included a can-can on the step-up and a tail whip over the screen.

Paul Basagoitia, who had won the event the first two years, showed that he is riding at another level these days. He just missed a 720 on the step-up on the qualifying runs and had to settle for 12 th .

The top B.C. rider was Ben Boyko of North Vancouver in fourth place, followed by Whistler rider Darren Berrecloth fifth, Ryder Kasprick sixth, and Thomas Vanderham seventh. While BMX style seemed to dominate the day, Vanderham stayed true to his downhill and freeride roots and launched some of the biggest airs of the day.

Other riders in the finals were Kurtis Sorge of Nelson 14 th , Ross McMaster of Whistler 15 th , Garett Buehler of Nelson 16 th , Kyle McDonald of Whistler 17 th , Kelly Mcgarry of Nelson and New Zealand 18 th , Ryan Meyer of South Delta 19 th and Wade Simmons 20 th .

Washington rider beats World Cup stars in Garbanzo Enduro

From the top of Garbanzo Chair to Whistler Village it’s a vertical drop of nearly 1,100 metres through some of the toughest and most technical trails the Whistler Mountain Bike Park has to offer.

The conditions were similar to earlier in the week – dry, dusty and loose – with riders tackling a variety of trails to the bottom.

Sam Hill of Washington won the Pro Men’s category in 15:14, edging out World Cup downhill leader Steve Peat of Great Britain by almost three seconds. Chris Kovarik of Australia placed third, edging out countryman Nathan Rennie by 0.8 seconds.

The top Whistler rider was Dave West in 12 th place with a time of 15:45. Tyler Morland was 16 th , Craig Yates 21 st , Kevin Bartkowski 22 nd , and Mike Jones 27 th to round out the top-30. There were 67 men in total in the Garbanzo race this year.

In the Pro Women’s event, Mio Suemasa of Japan took first in 17:35, while Fionn Griffiths of Great Brian placed second with a time of 17:42. Vancouver’s Danika Schroeter picked up third in 17:50.

For the local Whistler riders Angela Teng was fourth, Brooke Baker sixth, Fanny Paquette seventh, Katrina Strand 11 th and Katie Holden 13 th .

In the Women’s Master Amateur category Megan Hoodspith of Vancouver was first in 21:46, followed by Lindsey Voreis of Oregon in 25:04 and Francesca Turtorro of Pennsylvania in 28:06.

In the Women’s Senior Amateur group Nil Goren of Israel was first in 21:52, Bethany Parson of Victoria was second in 22:22 and Brooke Shore of Washington third in 23:54.

Steve Smith of Vancouver was the top Men’s Junior Amateur Racer in 16:11, over a minute faster than Washington’s Kyle Salisbury. Lorne Trousdell of Maple Ridge was third with a time of 17:20.

Tyler Allison was the top Whistler rider, seventh with a time of 17:39. Simon d’Artois was 22 nd , Kyle Quesnel 29 th , and Brody Borg 33 rd .

In Men’s Master Amateur Travis Eigeard of Squamish came out ahead in 17:06, followed by John Pitton of Washington in 17:18 and Winnipeg’s Adam Wright in 17:31.

Philip McGrath was the top local, finishing ninth, followed by Aaron Mattison and Tim Stefanik 20 th and 21 st .

In Senior Amateur Mark West of Great Britain took the win in 16:42, followed by Vermont’s David Smutok and Adrian Reagh of Kelowna. Whistler’s Simon Smith was fourth, Greg Dorksen 10 th , Tristan Merrick 12 th , Brad Bethune 16 th , Seb Kemp 18 th , John Blair 19 th , Aaron Stephens 20 th , and Sam Gothorp 23 rd to round out the top-30. The category had 53 riders.

German rider wins Kona Jump Jam

A few years ago German rider Timo Pritzel came to Whistler’s attention in the slopestyle when he aired completely over the staff housing Boneyard obstacle, then lost his bike off the final drop over the scaffolding to badly injure his ankle.

Pritzel’s reputation for pushing the envelope helped to boost him to the top of the Kona Jump Jam on Sunday, which took place at the base of the mountain.

The format was elimination, with two riders facing off jump for jump, and the rider with the best two out of three scores moving on to the next heat.

Cameron McCaul earned his second silver sprocket of the weekend behind Pritzel, while Paul Basagoitia took third.

Complete results are available online at www.crankworx.com.