Garbanzo Downhill Wrap-up

12 kilometres of leg-pumping, stomach churning action
Words by Stuart Kernaghan
Photos by David Ferguson

Saturday, July 24 was a busy day at the Crankworx Freeride Festival in Whistler, with both the Garbanzo Downhill and the Slopestyle Expression Session events going off.

The Garbanzo DH was a new addition to the Crankworx line-up this year, and those who have have taken the chair to the top can apprediate the effort it takes to get down under non-race conditions. Imagine what it's like when you're up against the clock.


Starting the course, way up in the sky

The Garbanzo DH started just after noon at - big surprise here - the top of the new Garbanzo expansion.

It travelled down No Joke to the lower half of the mountain, hitting trails like Dirt Merchant, Ho Chi Minh and B-Line before popping out by the GLC drops and finishing beside the Fitzsimmons chair.

The course dropped 3,400 vertical feet and covered 12 kilometres of trail, which made for a hell of a long ride and considerably more pedalling than most downhill racers were used to.

Riders were sent off in approximately one-minute intervals, with a total of 116 entries in junior men / women, amateur men / women, and pro men / women categories.


Flying over one of the drops at the top of the course

Crowd favourite Cedric Gracia won the pro men's event in a time of 15' 17" and a blistering speed of 47.08 km/h, with B.C. local Tyler Morland coming in a very close second, less than seven seconds behind, and Aussie Nathan Rennie only a few bike lengths behind to round out the podium.

Cedric took home a giant cheque for $1,000, as well as some crazy bike jewellery and a Siemens cell phone for ripping it up.

It was a bit of an odd prize seeing as he's sponsored by Siemens-Cannondale - I'd imagine he already has all the phones he could possibly use, but you never know…

American Kathie Pruitt claimed top spot in the pro women's race and a few hundred bucks less than Cedric for her troubles. She did, however, get her own crazy jewellery, a cell phone, and a giant cheque, so it was all good in the end.

Pruitt wasn't happy that the cheque said 'Katie' instead of 'Kathie', however, and let organizers know - while she was still on the stage and the announcer's mic was on.


Cedric charging down the bottom of the course
Coming in in a time of 17' 29", Pruitt had a significant gap of more than 45 seconds over the number two finisher, fellow Yankee Anka Martin, and more than a minute and 10 seconds on the number three woman, B.C.'s Angela Teng.

Pro Men

NAME NATIONALITY TIME DIFFERENCE AVERAGE SPEED
1. Cedric Gracia US / France 0:15:17.54   47.08
2. Tyler Morland CAN 0:15:24.38 0:00:06.84 46.73
3. Nathan Rennie AUS 0:15:25.55 0:00:08.01 46.67


Pro Women

NAME NATIONALITY TIME DIFFERENCE AVERAGE SPEED
1. Kathie Pruitt US 0:17:29.89   41.15
2. Anka Martin US 0:18:15.98 0:00:46.09 39.42
3. Angela Teng CAN 0:18:40.69 0:01:10.80 38.55

Complete results are available at Stat-timing.com.