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Four things we took away from Crankworx Whistler, the year’s biggest MTB festival
There’s a new ‘freeracer’ in town
If we were Brendan Fairclough, we might be getting worried, because it looks like Kade Edwards is staking his claim for the title of top ‘freeracer’. The Trek Factory Racing up-and-comer (pictured) isn’t just throwing bar-spins on his BMX now, he’s chalking up World Cup top-20s and blasting his way to whip-o wins too. How long will it be before we see him at Red Bull Rampage? At Crankworx’s O cial Whip-O World Championships, it was great to see racers and freeriders mixing it up. Both old and new-school riders were hitting the jumps together too, with legends like Thomas Vanderham and Darren ‘Bearclaw’ Berrecloth showing the youths that they still know a thing or two about getting sideways on a bike.
2. Richie Rude still dominates
Back between the tape after his doping ban, it appears that a sabbatical from racing hasn’t slowed the American down. Richie returned to the Enduro World Series with a vengeance this year, winning his first race in Italy and backing it up with another here in Whistler. On the brutal, 20-minute ‘Top of the World’ stage, he put 32 seconds into his nearest rivals, and even rain-soaked conditions and attacks from Sam Hill and Eddie Masters weren’t enough to rein him in. Richie entered the final stage with a massive 50-second lead and utterly smashed that too, making a clear statement – he’s back and a force to be reckoned with.
3. Polite Canadians can be party poopers
The Canadian Open DH used to be famous not only for the racing, but also for Heckler’s Rock, where beer-swilling, shirtless fans congregated for the rowdiest event of the year. Things got out of hand in 2016, the organisers banned the hecklers and it’s not really been the same since. While there was a notable absence of chanting and beer-spraying this year, the action on track was no less wild. Troy Brosnan put down an insanely fast, accurate run and Myriam Nicole rode to third place in the women’s, proving she’s up to pace in time for the World Champs. Vali Höll separated her from winner Tracey Hannah, showing that the young Austrian will undoubtedly be a contender when she graduates from the Junior category next year.
4. The top pros are incomprehensibly good
Modern slopestyle is so far out of our league that it’s hard for us to fully appreciate it. At this year’s Red Bull Joyride, we witnessed 20-year-old Emil Johansson snatch victory from a faultless Brett Rheeder, with a sequence of opposite spins and combo tricks, including a 360 double barspin to downside tailwhip. With the extent of our combined acrobatic skill being a tweaked-out tabletop, we can’t get our heads around the otherworldly level of bike control that these guys have and what it must take to execute tricks of this scale in front of 25,000 spectators. Watching Johansson, we felt like we were witnessing the arrival of the next Brandon Semenuk.
RICHIE ENTERED THE FINAL STAGE WITH A MASSIVE 50 SECOND LEAD AND UTTERLY SMASHED THAT TOO, MAKING A CLEAR STATEMENT HE’ S BACK AND A FORCE TOBERECKONEDWITH