And then the rains came….

Bearclaw Invitational Report

Words by Dan Gronross. Photos by Malcolm Mclaws.

$4000 dollars worth of tee-shirts and a truck load of Kokanee. That's all that remains of the 3rd annual Bearclaw Invitational.

Super Hairy Log Boner in the mist. This is why the Invitational was moved forward to Friday and the finals were eventually cancelled on Saturday.

In a race against the rain the Bearclaw Invitational was pushed up a day, with the possibility of holding finals on the Saturday. With the completed course not even a day old and rain in the forecast it was time to say ‘game on’.

Darren Berrecloth putting the final touches on the wooden-pipe transfer.

Event organizer Darren Berrecloth had his hands full from the very beginning. He was running around the course making sure that it was as good as it could be. When we arrived on Friday morning the builders were still putting the final touches on the course and Darren was right there, smacking a tranny flat, or installing the mesh on the quarter pipe. Not to mention that there were sponsors that had paid large amounts of money to be there and Darren had to make sure that they were taken care of as well.

It was decided on Thursday afternoon that the competition would be shifted to match the ever-changing and unpredictable weather on Vancouver Island. Each rider would do 2 runs down the course on Friday that would be judged and then if the weather held, two more runs would be ridden on Saturday with the awards being handed out at the big party on Saturday night.

After the mud had settled, the final names of the riders competing in the event were:

Darren Berrecloth
Graham Agassiz
Jordie Lunn
Ryder Kasprick
Brandon Semenuk
Kyle Strait
Geoff Gulevich
Ross McMaster
Kurt Sorge
Andreu Lacondeguy
Grant Fielder
Andrew Taylor
Cameron McCaul
Cameron Zink
Jamie Goldman
Tyler McCaul
Mitch Chubey
Clinton McMahon

There were a number of notable riders milling around the competition. Thomas Vanderham, Kyle McDonald, and Ryan Berrecloth, decided the Invitational just wasn’t their thing but they stuck around to spread the cheer.


The course from above, with Mitch Chubey sending it off the Super Hairy Log Boner. What you can’t see is just how soft the ground was.

The course was radically different from last year. Instead of the two sided optional line, Darren decided on a dedicated course so that all the riders rode the same line and then tricked the features and jumps as they saw fit. The course consisted of few step ups, the Specialized wall ride, some quarter transfers, two log boners, a super large double set and finally a step up/step down onto the Redbull Box.

The final double seemed to cause a number of the riders pause while they were sessioning the course the morning of competition. Invitational winner Jamie Goldman pipes in on the issue with the double: “There was the boner log and then the jump right after that was taking out a lot of people because the lip was super steep and it was hard to go that fast into steep lip like that. I got lucky and had the right speed, you had to brake a couple times into it because if you braked too much, you cased and if you went too fast, you would get bucked pretty bad so that was the hard part.”

Once the Invitational had begun, there was no rhyme nor reason to the order of the riders. The riders were asked, ‘okay – who’s next?’ and then it was radioed down to announcer Brad Ewan. This added to the very chill atmosphere of the Bearclaw Invitational. Maybe It wasn’t chill enough though because it seemed that the riders were having way more fun during practice and some of the largest tricks were thrown then.


Geoff Gulevich fleeing the Super Hairy Log Boner.

The first person down the mountain was Geoff Gulevich. I pulled him aside after his run and he weighed in on the course, “Personally I like Crankworx a little more, well this year at least. Last year’s Bearclaw Invitational was way better. (than Crankworx 2007) I really like this course, it is pretty tech but it needs a little love right now. It hasn’t broken in at all, with Crankworx they had three months, which is plenty of time to dial it in. This course’s cherry has just been popped.” He managed a clean run until the final step up onto the Redbull box, for which he didn’t have enough speed.

Not making it onto the Redbull box was an issue as riders tried to control their speed coming off the Super Hairy Log Boner and over the final super huge double. The two-time Invitational Champion Cam McCaul didn’t finish after a great run including a barspin off the small Log Boner, a no-footed Cancan over the Super Hairy Log Boner and an Indian Air over the large double. Graham Agassiz fell at the hitching post and then scrubbed too much speed off the final double and clipped his front wheel on the step up onto the Redbull Box. Grant Fielder (Chopper) also never made it up the Redbull Box after falling on an Indian Air at the last double. The same fate befell Ryder Kasprick.
Andreu Lacondeguy launching a Super stretched Superman Seat Grab in the practice runs. Too bad it didn’t end as well in his competition run.

Andreu Lacondeguy, hot off his win at Crankworx had this to say about riding the Invitational a mere week after his win. “I am feeling good man! Now I am just ready to chill and enjoy riding with all my friends!” He had a clean run including a back flip over the step up, a table off the little boner, a one-footer, one-hander off the Super Hairy Log Boner but unfortunately he crashed with an attempted Superman Seat grab over the large double.

Andrew Taylor should have had a Fox with a 20 QR for his fork but for some reason he was running a quick release. The poor guy only made it 25 feet down the course after snapping his skewer on the first step up and losing his front wheel. A huge upset came when Brendon Semenuk crashed off the Specialized wall ride, ending his first run.


Darren Berrecloth dropping his signature 360 off the Redbull Box.

Jamie Goldman’s first run was primo starting off with back flipping the first step up, a foot plant over the hitching post, a 360 off the second hip transfer, a no-footed can off the super hairy log boner, an Indian air over the large double, completing his run with an X-up onto the Redbull box and a no-footed can off.

Darrren Berrecloth’s first run was also clean including an Indian Air of the Super Hairy Log Boner followed by a no-hander over the last double and he capped it off with his signature 360 off the Redbull Box.


Mitch Chubey defying gravity on the Specialized wall ride.

NSMB’s Mitch Chubey, Tyler McCaul and Jordie Lunn all had clean runs ending with X-Ups off the Redbull Box.

There was a break in the competition as the course was cleaned up and the riders collected themselves. Cameron Zink felt that he couldn’t do any better so he decided to sit the second run out. The fight going into the second runs was between Darren Berrecloth and Jamie Goldman.

First up to the plate with a clean, not too technical run was Geoff Gullevich. Jordie Lunn followed with a suicide no-hander off the small Log Boner, but failed to make it to the Redbull Box. Andreu Lacondeguy threw down a clean, flowy second run, with Ross Mc Master attempting a flair over the second hip transfer. Andrew Taylor tried twice to land a flair and both times didn’t fully complete, ending his run and his hopes for the podium.


Super large X-Up off the Super Hairy Log Boner for Jamie Goldman. It is tricks like these that get you on the podium.

Jamie Goldman’s second run was as good as his first, with Tyler McCaul following with a clean run as well.

Kurt Sorge started his second run on fire with a back flip over the first step up, gapping the hitching post, x up off the small log boner, Indian Air over the double culminating with an arriving on the Redbull Box without his bike.

Brendon Semenuk also had some issues at the bottom of the course but after landing nose heavy on the last double, when it seemed like a crash was certain, he managed to pull it together and 360 off the Redbull Box.

Cam McCaul sends it large off the Super Hairy Boner Log during the practice runs.

Cam McCaul’s second run ended with a fumble after the Super Log Boner. First place would not go to the reigning champion of the previous two Bearclaw Invitationals. There would be someone new in the highly coveted top spot.

Graham Agassiz, a bit dazed after smacking his forehead and splitting open his eyebrow, pulled together a very clean second run including a truck driver off the second hip transfer, an Indian Air off the Super Hairy Log Boner, a bar spin onto the Redbull Box and a no-footed Can off. He was to land somewhere on the podium after that run.

Grant Fielder also ended his chances at the podium when he 50/50’d the Hitching Post. But in true spirit he pulled it together and continued on, completing run smoothly.


Darren Berrecloth rocking the Specialized wall ride, riding a Specialized SX.

Mitch Chubey was having problems on landing after the Specialized wall ride. He kept casing his rear wheel. He managed a clean second run until his attempted Tailwhip 360 failed and he couldn’t make it up the Redbull Box.

Ryder Kasprick had a great second run until he clipped his rear wheel on the large double. Kyle Strait cleaned up his second run with a Superman off the Small Log Boner and a tailwhip 360 off the Redbull Box. Darren Berrecloth impressed all with a clean second run.


Thumbs up from Bearclaw Invitational winner Jamie Goldman. It is his first Slopestyle Contest win ever. Congratulations buddy!

And then the rains came! Everyone went to bed on Friday night, some on the floor of other people’s hotel rooms with hopes that the weather would hold. When everyone awoke on Saturday morning and all that could be seen outside was the fog, it was obvious that the competition would be judged based on the previous day’s runs.

The winners, based on their runs on Friday were:

Jamie Goldman $7,500.00
Darren Berrecloth $5,000.00
Cameron Zink $3000.00
Graham Agazzi $1500.00
Brendan Semenuk $750.00
Andreu Lacondegay $500.00
Tyler McCaul $250.00
Kyle Straight $250.00
Jordie Lunn $250.00
Geoff Gullevich $250.00

Darren felt that effort was there so he paid out ten deep, so that many of the guys who went out in shady conditions and threw it down all got some dough. Seeing as the cost of the ferries has increased, at least it paid for that.

Congrats to all the riders who went out there and threw it down for the crowd. Even though the Invitational didn’t run as intended, it sure was fun being there.

I would like to thank Darren Berrecloth. In the face of adversity he managed to rally the guys and put on a fantastic slopestyle, even if there weren’t large numbers to see it. I would also like to thank Brent Curtain and all the folks at Mount Washington for hosting such a great event. Thanks as well to Darcy Turenne and Mitch Cheek for letting us stay in their hotel room until our room was sorted.

Dan Gronross

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