The rain added a whole new level of challenge to this past weekend’s Crankworx events, with athletes in the Volkswagen Biker Cross and Garbanzo Enduro Downhill contending with mud, slippery terrain, puddles, and slow patches. Courses that were groomed to be in competition shape deteriorated quickly as hundreds of riders made hundreds of practice and competition runs.
But while the rain made conditions unpredictable, the podiums were anything but as the top World Cup riders more or less finished on top.
Volkswagen Biker Cross
Although the hole shot was important in Saturday’s Volkswagen Biker Cross, the rain and mud opened the entire course for passing — if you were willing to take a chance.
“I did a few runs yesterday when it was dry, and today it was pretty much a new course,” said Cedric Gracia, who held off a few late challenges to take the win. “There was lots of chances to pass, but you had to be careful not to slip and pick a good line. It was a really good course — I like big jumps, and they had a step-down this year that was great. There was more pedaling with the mud and you had to be careful around the corners, but it was an exciting finish.
“You never knew what could happen.”
Czech Republic rider Michal Marosi placed second, followed by Andrew Neethling from Draper, Utah and J.S. Therrien from Squamish.
Therrien was happy with his race as he almost placed third.
“Everybody was going a little slower but it was still hard to pass because it was so slippery,” he said. “It’s still a race and you never know what’s going to happen, you just try to go as fast as you can and maybe someone up ahead will go off course. I’m pretty happy with my race, it was really close and everybody was passing.”
On the women’s side, Washington’s Jill Kitner took the win with a solid lead from the beginning. British racer Fionn Griffiths placed second, followed by Joanna Peterson and Lynne Aitchison. Aitchison made it into the finals when two riders in the semi-finals bumped into each other and went down.
Kitner was happy with her finish, but said it was tougher than she expected.
“I had a good start and a good finish, and that’s about it,” she said. “I wish it was dry. The middle section started to hold water by the end, and the mud and puddles just sucked up all your speed.”
Whistler’s James McSkimming won the Senior Men’s 19 to 29 category, pulling past Chad Larrain, Damian Biswsett and Kyle Thomas.
In the Master Men 30-Plus category, Clinton Fowler took the checkered flag ahead of Brian Onofrichuk, Christian Egelmair and Michael Stewart.
In the Junior Men’s category, 16 to 18, Tyler Gorz placed first overall, followed by Chris Myers, Michael August, and Glen Bradley.
Whistler’s Nicholas Geddes was first in Boys 13 to 15, followed by Martin Bryson, Braeme Tod-Tims, and Todd Castonguay.
This year there were four racers in the four-wheel category, which is a welcome first for Crankworx. Whistler’s Stacey Kohut easily took the win, followed by Ellis Tull, Blair Jones and Gavin Williamson.
Garbanzo Enduro Downhill
The Garbanzo Enduro is the longest downhill race in the world at close to 10 km, and with a vertical drop of more than 1,000 metres is also one of the toughest. With rain falling on the course the night before and almost 270 racers churning up the mud, it was rough going at times.
The course was also more technical than past years, with riders following Original Sin to Toilet Bowl, down to Too Tight, Duff Man, Ho Chi Minh, World Cup Singletrack, and Monkey Hands before heading out to the GLC drop. Most riders crashed at least once on course, and more than one rider suggested that conditions might have been better if it kept raining.
Sam Hill, the reigning World Cup downhill champion and current World Cup leader, may have been the only rider to overcome the conditions. He was clocked at more than 63 km/h in one section of the course, and finished more than half a second faster than the closest competitor with a time of 14 minutes, 25.7 seconds.
“I put on my mud tires yesterday, and they’ve been riding really well,” said Hill, who also won the Garbanzo last year. “It was really slippery, and I tried not to use all my energy so I’d have something left at the end. The top part of the course was really technical, which thrashed up my hands and upper body.
“It’s pretty awesome. This is the only race like this I do every year.”
Hill said part of the challenge is the fact that the race is too long to remember lines, and even if he did try the organizers changed the course at the last minute to take out a slippery boardwalk section. As a result, he said all you can do is keep looking ahead and try to be as smooth as possible.
“It’s easier in a way when the course is this long. In a World Cup every tenth and hundredth of a second counts, and every little thing can be catastrophic. What’s great about this is that after about 10 minutes nobody is going as fast as they would in a World Cup. Everybody starts to make little mistakes so it’s a lot more forgiving.”
Hill was one of the few riders that didn’t have a crash on course, but he nearly had a bad fall on GLC drop while trying to overtake Brian Lopes.
“I got a little long off the last jump,” he said. “I missed the landing and came down on the flat part. That was pretty scary.”
Justin Leov of Colorado placed second in 14:59.3, followed by Utah’s Andrew Neethling. Lopes, who started a minute ahead of Hill, finished the race in fifth place.
The top Whistler rider was Sam Reed in 11 th place with a time of 15:48.1. Chad Onyschuk was 16 th , Steve Smith was 24 th , Paul Whitham 26 th , Cody Eichhorn 48 th , J.S. Therrien 32 nd , Greg Grant 33 rd , Chris Reading 44 th , and Steve Petherick 54 th .
On the women’s side, British racer Tracey Mosley took the win ahead of fellow Brit Fionn Griffiths. Mosley’s time was 17:23.5 once a timing issue was sorted out, while Griffiths finished in 17:32.6. Joanna Petterson from Hawaii was third in 18:32.3, followed by Whistler’s Angela Teng in 18:37.3.
Griffiths was happy with her ride for the most part, and managed to stay on her bike.
“There were a few times I had to get off my bike and run, like one uphill section I wasn’t ready for and I had to get off my bike a few times to get over things,” she said. “You really can’t train for a race like this. You can take a few practice runs without tiring yourself out, but nobody can memorize a course this long.”
Griffiths said she struggled in the technical sections up top, but managed to pull her race together at the midway point.
“About halfway through I had a mental check and told myself that if I wanted to be in this I had to do something special, and I pulled it out,” she said.
“I’m pretty happy. The top section was as technical as any course on the World Cup, and the bottom section is so long and fast. You really have no idea where you’re going after just two practice runs.”
Angela Teng was also happy with her ride.
“I’m stoked, especially after two crashes,” she said, both of them on Too Tight. “It was so gnarly up there, probably the worst I’ve ever seen it. It was so slippery and muddy, but it was also super-fun. They picked a hard course.”
Micayla Gatto of West Vancouver, who won the national downhill title the previous day, finished fifth in 19:00.6. She was caught off-guard by a late course change.
Miranda Miller of Garibaldi Highlands was seventh, and Fanny Pquette of Whistler placed ninth.
Local riders also did well in the age categories.
In Amateur Women 19 and Over, Kimberly Saprunoff of Whistler was second in 21:28.7, Kari Mancer placed fourth, and Meghan Illingworth of Squamish was fifth.
In Boys 13 to 15, Nick Geddes of West Vancouver and Whistler placed second in 17:11.4. Simon D’Artois was eighth.
In Junior Men 16 to 18, Kyle Quesnel of Squamish was 21 st .
In Senior Men 19 to 29, Jared Capey placed third, Tristan Merrick was fifth, William Dixon sixth, James McSkimming seventh, Neil White eighth, Adam Mantle ninth, Jesse Murphy 10 th , Brad Bethune 14 th , Matt Boudreau 27 th , Thomas Humphrey 30 th , Louis Dumas 36 th , Pat Labrosse 39 th , Marc Zurbuchen 43 rd , Brad Wolf 44 th , and Alex Attard 50 th .
In Master Men 30 and Over, Adam Wright of Whistler placed first in 16:08.8. Mathieu Hebert was seventh, Colin Miller 11 th , and Craig Bullen 20 th .
The Crankworx festival continued on Wednesday, July 25 with the Jim Beam Air Downhill, followed by the Telus Dual Slalom on Friday, the Kokanee Slopestyle on Saturday and the Canadian Open Downhill on Sunday. For more information, visit www.crankworx.com.
