10/11/2008

The Saturday night Slopestyle event at Crankworx has been the showcase event of the week-long festival for the past two years, and this year - the third year of the Whistler event - wasn't any different.

Thousands of people gathered in the plaza at the base of the Fitzsimmons chair and up the hill on the sides of the course to watch 18 athletes go up, over, across and off features designed by Richie Schley, John Cowan, and Jonathan 'CERVO' Mahec, who was responsible for the woodwork in the Whistler Bike Park last year. There were supposed to be 23 riders in the competition, but several were out because of injuries. But the carnage on the hill didn't slow down the remaining riders at all.

The group of 18 riders were narrowed down to 12 after two runs, and the remaining 12 competed head-to-head in a two-run Super Final for all the marbles. It was close, and there were several dramatic wipe-outs as riders duked it out. Thankfully, everyone was able to ride off the course under their own power.

Unlike years gone by, the winner wasn't a foregone conclusion. The top five places were close enough that a solid final run could have put them in the top spot. And unlike years gone by, the riders expected to medal just couldn't pull off the clean runs necessary to stand on the podium.

When all the tricks were hucked and the scores tallied, Cam Zink was on top of the podium with a giant cheque for $7,500 in his hand. Cam McCaul, who had mastered the art of coming in fourth place over the last couple of years of Slopestyle comps, pulled off an impressive second place finish and $3,500. Kyle Strait managed to avoid a repeat of last year's nasty ejection from his bike and bagged third place and his own giant cheque, for $2,500.

Cam Zink throwing down one big-ass backflip, on his way to winning the Slopestyle 2006 event

I'll have the full Slopestyle report in a couple of days, so stay tuned for the whole story. You'll want to read about who threw down, but more importantly, who didn't.

Stuart Kernaghan