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Weekend round up from Crankworx
In the pro men category, US rider JD Swanguen took first place ahead of Belgian Nico Vink (Joe's No-Flats sponsors Dolphin-Trek Team Nedelands) and Chris Herndon (USA). Notably, podium favourites like Brian Lopes, Dan Atherton and Cedric Gracia all got knocked out in earlier rounds of the competition.
Dutch rider Anneke Beerten took first place in the pro women category ahead of Brit riders Rachel Atherton and Fionn Griffiths.
The Garbanzo Downhill competition took place on Sunday - a one-run format race on one of the world's longest and toughest downhill tracks, descending 3,400 feet from starting gate to finish line.
British rider Gee Atherton won the downhill with a time of 14:20.4 ahead of Australian Sam Hill (14:37.8) and Team BikeRadar's Marc Beaumont (GBr, Joe's No-Flats sponsors Bikeradar Team UK) with a time of 14:44.6.
Photos courtesy of Yorick Carroux, http://www.carroux.com/.
Gee said after his win: "We practiced on dry trails well before the race, so when the rain came, it changed everything. You had to pick new lines and just go for it."
Sam Hill, who clinched second spot despite a crash said: "This was not an easy track to begin with and the weather made it even tougher. I had a crash in the middle of the course and one of my shoes came off, I had to stay strong and keep motivated to make up the time."
Rachel Atherton continued her winning streak in the women's pro downhill race with a time of 16:48.9 ahead of fellow British rider Fionn Griffiths (17:25.1) and Canadian Denise Uyesuqi (18:32.7). Whistler local Rebecca McQueen took fourth with a time of 18:41.9.
Rachel Atherton commented after the race: "This course is like three times as long as what I'm used to on the world cup. You really need to stay focused on such a long, hard course."
Story by Matthew Cole and Bikeradar.com
Marc’s Whistler blog at the Garbanzo downhill
by Marc Beaumont and Bikeradar.com
Marc styles it up on the Garbanzo course (BikeRadar)
Garbanzo is what I can only describe as the hardest thing I have done on a downhill mountain bike, so here I am a year on signing up for the race again. The course goes from the top lift (Gabanzo lift), and takes around 40 minutes to get to the top using two lifts.
The course is made up of nine different trails on the way down containing some of the most gnarly sections I have ever seen.
Practice is really strange because it’s so long you feel like you are just cruising along not really pinning sections like you would at a normal downhill race. It's a hard task to remember all the course, it has it all; gnarly roots and rocks, jumps, fast and slow sections, flat sections, uphills... it really is an epic!
Practice went quite well for me, I felt like I had a rough idea where to go and was looking forward to it, my run was going pretty good, I got really tired about ten minutes in and wanted it to be over. You sort of break through that and come into a second wind towards the bottom.
When I crossed the line I went into the lead, there were a few guys left to go behind me. I sat it out for a while only to be knocked out of the hot seat by Gee Atherton, one man left to go, Sam Hill. He could not beat Gee's time either.
So I got third! Well happy with my day’s work. I would advise anyone who is up for a challenge to race the Garbanzo, if only once!
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