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12 kilometres of leg-pumping, stomach churning action |
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
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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. |
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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.
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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 |
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.



