KINNAIRD
If Tippie helps make the show, it’s Darren Kinnaird, general manager of Crankworx who is constantly working to develop the events and brand. Kinnaird watched the Whistler Summer Gravity Fest, an event that grew to become Crankworx, before volunteering in 2005. By 2007, Kinnaird was working for the organization. In 2010, he was hired as GM.
“I had a wish when I started as GM that Crankworx would become a massive global property,” Kinnaird said. Crankworx has grown from a one-off event into a worldwide tour with stops in Rotorua, New Zealand, Les Gets, France and Innsbruck, Austria. Whistler remains the headline event, and season finale.
Kinnaird is a big sports fan and took inspiration from other disciplines to create the Triple Crown of Slopestyle, an as-yet-to-be-awarded title that will go to a rider who can win three of the four Crankworx slopestyle events in a single year, and the King and Queen of Crankworx, titles bestowed upon the riders who gain the best results in multiple events at all Crankworx stops. The invitation process to the Red Bull Joyride at Whistler was modelled intentionally after the confusing and opaque procedures of being invited to the Masters golf tournament. “No one really understands how it works,” Kinnaird joked. “But it does.”
To celebrate mountain biking more broadly, lifestyle athletes are included through the art and media driven contests – Deep Summer for photography, and Dirt Diaries for video.
What started as a way to promote tourism to the Whistler Bike Park has had far-ranging effects. Crankworx has created a whole new reason for resorts to have a summer business. Kinnaird feels the format has given opportunities to athletes who don’t fit into the existing World Cup disciplines. It’s a winning formula that has drawn the attention of media and fostered industry involvement, creating a ripple effect that spreads out into surrounding communities and economies on each of the world tour stops, especially at the nine-day season opener in Rotorua, where new trails have fuelled an explosion in mountain biking and related tourism. In Whistler, the slopestyle competition brings in so many people that it has historically been the resort’s busiest day of the year.
“I love this stuff, and this sport,” Kinnaird said. “You get to see the joy and the anguish of competition. We’ve built the stage on which athletes have built careers.”
Looking into the future, Kinnaird sees Crankworx continuing to represent the best of mountain biking, making more opportunities for women and kids to develop a love of riding. He wants to add more stops to the world tour. He also wants to retain the kind of feel that entices fans keen on meeting their heroes.