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If you are thinking Kokanee Crankworx came up fast this year…join the club! We are feeling the same way. This super-mega-huge (largest in the world, for the record) freeride mountain bike festival has taken place in August for the past few years. So let’s just say the mid-July dates coupled with a no-show for summer has caught us all off guard!

Ready or not, the two-wheeled masses have descended on Whistler and all signs are pointing to the eighth incarnation of this gravity-fuelled celebration of all things bike to be the biggest ever. I will admit that we say this every year. However, with Red Bull on board to title Joyride, the re-tooled slopestyle event on July 23; free concerts in Whistler Olympic Plaza; and exciting additions like an app for iPhone, Android and mobile site for all other smartphones, things are looking decidedly epic. We wouldn’t expect anything less. And really, who needs the sun when you can have mud. Bring it on Kokanee Crankworx!

Yesterday we watched as Kokanee Crankworx’s first Fat Tire Criterium rallied through the heart of Whistler Village. The Kokanee Zone was open for prime viewing and fresh brews plus some gourmet street food catered y Bearfoot Bistro. Shoestring fries with truffle gravy…um yes please!

The high speed, elbow-to-elbow action circled Whistler Olympic Plaza to compete for the cash and the glory. There were spills, there were thrills and in the end it was Brian Lopes taking home the cash for first and Katherine Short taking home first place for the ladies. OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

When the Crit ended, the party rolled on with the Kokanee Crankworx Kick Off Concerts presented in partnership with the Resort Municipality of Whistler Festivals, Events & Animation Program. Whistler’s own Kostaman opened for reggae, funk, pop, soul and hip-hop musician/emcee K’NAAN with around 5,000 people in attendance. It felt like the Olympics were back in town! It was an amazing concert. Hopefully the rain will give us a break here for tonight’s concert with Current Swell and Hot Hot Heat!

Check back here for updates on the Dual Slalom and everything else Kokanee Crankworx!

Event dates were selected based on the 2011 UCI World Cup Downhill schedule to ensure continued attendance from world class downhill racers.

Growing on the success of the live webcasts, introduced in 2008, Kokanee Crankworx stepped it up again this year, ensuring that every single event was available to not only the vast on-site audience, but online viewers as well. Add record attendance estimates and this year’s festival went down as the most watched Kokanee Crankworx to date.

“Kokanee Crankworx 2010 succeeded once again in capturing the soul of mountain biking. With so many events over the nine day stretch in almost every discipline, this year’s festival exceeded our expectations in every aspect. And the positive feedback keeps coming in,” says Jeremy Roche, General Manager of Kokanee Crankworx.

Highlights from Kokanee Crankworx 2010 included Can Zink’s come-from-behind victory at the Monster Energy Slopestyle which netted him a cool $15,000; Anne-Caroline Chausson’s punishing performance in nearly every event she competed in; and Brian Lopes dominating once again, winning his fifth Air DH title in a row. This year also marked the return of the Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge, won by Deep Winter veteran Jordan Manley; the Deraylor Music Festival showcasing 45 acts over three nights throughout Whistler’s hot spots; and the addition of the Ultimate Pump Track challenge to the already diverse group of events.

Through long term relationships with resort partners, sponsors and athletes as well as funding from Canada’s Marquee Tourism Events Program, Kokanee Crankworx delivered an unbelievable nine day ode to mountain biking. The numbers speak for themselves year after year, from spectators, online web views, athletes and cash prizes – the list goes on and on.

· Over 20,000 spectators lined the course and filled Skier’s Plaza for the Monster Energy Slopestyle

· Highest visited period in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park ever

· Over 5,500 Facebook fans and 2,000+ Twitter followers of Kokanee Crankworx

· Mike Montgomery’s GoPro footage of his Slopestyle run; the 13th most tweeted topic of the day in sports with 600,000 views and counting

· Over 300 accredited media from 17 countries, including major bike magazines, filmmakers and bike industry webzines

· Over 1,200 competitor starts throughout the event

With the top Downhill, Freeride and Slopestyle mountain bike athletes, as well as world cup athletes from around the world competing, Kokanee Crankworx continues to prove itself as a world class event.

Until then, here is a list of our Top Ten Favourite Crankworx 2010 Moments to tide you over…

1) Gee Atherton kicking off Opening Day with a win at the Dual Slalom

Photo by: Justa Jeskova/coastphoto.com

2) Chris Kovarik’s solid win at the Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill with a time of 13:22.99

3) A window into the passions of Whistler individuals at PechaKucha

4) Remy Absalon’s demonstration of skill and fitness at the Canadian Open Enduro. He took home first place with a time of 18:52.44

5) Jordan Manley’s epic slideshow documenting the Whistler Bike Park Trail Crew at the Deep Summer Photo Challenge

6) Mitch Ropelato and Jill Kintner’s take down at the first ever Pump Track Challenge at Kokanee Crankworx

7) The Deraylor Music Series - 3 days of music featuring 40 artists from around the world

Brian Lopes’ 5th consecutive win at the Air DH, conquring A-Line in just 4:15.69

9) The hilarity that is the Canadian Cheeserolling Championships - the only official non-biking event at Crankworx

10) The 20,000 plus fans at the Monster Energy Slopestyle who watched Cam Zink take the cake with an amazing run featuring a huge front flip off the VW Booter

See ya next year!!

Photo: Dan Barham

Gee Atherton (GBR) and Emmeline Ragot (FRA) hammered down the steep rock faces and notoriously technical Canadian Open DH course to take first place in their respective pro divisions in the race presented by Kona.

Ragot is the current UCI Downhill World Champion and Atherton won the men’s title in 2008. They are both moving on from dominating downhill events at Kokanee Crankworx to the Downhill World Championships taking place in Mont-Saint-Anne, starting September 2, 2010. The demanding slopes of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park are an ideal setting to train and prepare worldclass athletes for the demands of the Downhill World Championships.

Atherton, who also won the Dual Slalom at Kokanee Crankworx, had a solid run in the Candian Open DH presented by Kona and swept in at 3:04.14, second place went to pinner Lewis Buchanan (SCO) with a time of 3:09.16 while Justin Leov (NZL) maintained a pace almost exactly the same as Buchanan’s to come in at 3:09.20.

“This was a real tough course to ride today,” says Atherton. “It has been a long season and I am excited to go from here onto the World Championships in Mont-Saint-Anne.”

Emmeline Ragot, who has been competing in various events all week also held on for a solid run. She blazed into first place with a time of 3:37.78, more than seven seconds faster than her first place time in 2009′s Canadian Open DH. Claire Buchar (CAD) took second place with a time of 3:43.12 and up and coming racer Miranda Miller (CAD) took home third with a time of 3:46.85.

Find full event results here.

New for 2010 at Kokanee Crankworx was the crowning of the King and Queen of Gravity. With a total of three downhill events, one enduro and two slaloms, it was high time Kokanee Crankworx gave props to the athletes are out there all festival long doing everything fast. The data and timing teams calculated the results and the pro King and Queen, and amateur Prince and Princess were crowned at the closing of Kokanee Crankworx 2010.

Gee Atherton reigns as King and Emmeline Ragot took home the crown as the Queen of Gravity. Amateur woman Bridgette Leber (USA) and amateur boy Brennan Walstrom (CAN) were respectively appointed the Princess and Prince of Gravity for Kokanee Crankworx 2010.

One last, very special award, was given out as a wrap-up to Kokanee Crankworx. Rob McSkimming, Senior VP of Business Development for Whistler Blackcomb and bike park visionary was given the “Richard Juryn Award.” This award is given in memory of one of Crankworx’s original organizers and is used to recognize individuals who reflect Juryn’s passion, dedication, and enthusiasm for the mountain bike community.

With the Canadian Open DH on the books, Kokanee Crankworx 2010 has come to a record-breaking end.
For those that missed some of the action, daily on-demand video highlights from Whistler Creek Productions can be found online and webcast replays of all the action will start on August 25 with the Dual Slalom. Find the entire schedule of replays here: http://www.crankworx.com/webcast/

Photo: Dan Barham

Record numbers of over 20,000 fans at the Monster Energy Slopestyle at Kokanee Crankworx witnessed a huge changing of the guard. Cam Zink (USA) had a major comeback and earned himself first place and $15,000 for a mind-blowing run featuring a huge front flip off the VW Booter, super floaty 360s and a big, old backflip off the Kokanee Booter. He stepped it up huge and his efforts got him 95.0 out of 100 from the judges. Zink held the title in 2006, making this his second first place win at the Monster Energy Slopestyle.

“This run was unreal; that was the first front flip I have ever done in competition,” says Zink. “It has been four years since I have had a big win. I don’t even know what to say. It has been a long time coming. It all paid off – all the hard work, all the injuries.”

Mike Montgomery (USA), who came in 14th at last year’s Monster Energy Slopestyle, was gunning for the win today and in his Super Final run he was flipping and spinning off everything he could get to in an attempt to unseat Zink. Unfortunately, he got a little sideways off the massive Monster Energy Launch Pad and detonated as soon as he landed. His impressive first run saw him throw down the hugest tail whip off the same feature and earned him a score of 91.5, enough to keep him on the podium through the whole competition.

“I am so glad all of my hard work has finally paid off,” says Montgomery. “I am so excited. I am healthy this year and I came to play. I nailed the first run and I got to do it in front of so many people. Stoked.”

Casey Groves (CAD) lived up to all the hype with solid runs through the entire competition. His second run sealed the deal and after stomping some styley 360s and a solid tuck no-hander x-up he was literally speechless in the finish corral with a score of 89.5. In Groves’s third run he showed heart when his chain broke and he launched himself off the Kokanee Booter with a fist pump anyways.

“This is an amazing turn of events, I never expected any of this,” says Groves. “I didn’t expect to go into the Super Finals in third and to maintain that placing is amazing.”

Paul Rak was the head judge at the first-ever Crankworx Slopestyle and he was back in the judge’s chair for 2010 after a two-year hiatus. The level of progression the sport has undergone in two short years was glaringly evident in the Boneyard today.

“Being away for two years and coming back and seeing the level that this sport has progressed to is incredible,” says Rak. This is one of the best mountain bike events I have ever had the privilege to judge.”

While the highs were high for the top five athletes, some crowd-favourites and superstar athletes fell victim to hard luck in the dirt arena of the Monster Energy Slopestyle. Both Darren Berrecloth (CAN) and Brandon Semenuk (CAN) laid down incredible runs, tricking top to bottom, only to crash after airing off the Kokanee Booter. Sixth place rider Yannick Granieri (FRA) was unable to compete in the Super Finals after washing out in his second run, but the score from his first run held up to get him some prize money.

The Monster Energy Slopestyle gives each rider two runs in the Finals and one run for the top six riders in the Super Final. The good news for today’s event was that the score from any of the three runs could win the competition. As the crowd saw today, the best runs of the day were thrown down early on.

A record crowd at Kokanee Crankworx witnessed the Monster Energy Slopestyle in Whistler Village and a live webcast on Crankworx.com and Go211.com ensured this year’s event was witnessed by over 100,000 worldwide.

Find full event results here.

Sunday is the last day of Kokanee Crankworx with the Canadian Open DH presented by Kona Pro Divisions closing the action for 2010. The live webcast goes from 3:00-5:00pm PDT on Sunday August 15. http://www.crankworx.com/webcast/ Catch up on daily on-demand video highlights of all the happenings at the biggest freeride mountain bike festival in the world online as well.

The big news at the start of the competition was The Claw and Semenuk both crashed on the final Kokanee kicker on their first runs, taking them completely out of the running for top stop. Last year’s winner, Greg Watts didn’t make it to the Super Final, after a blown tire prevented him from completing the course. He did manage to session the Kokanee Kicker with a blown tire.

There were some spectacular crashes on the course, and other highlights include Groves riding the course chainless for the last half of his Super Final run, after it broke.

This is just a teaser. More info to come!

As has become tradition here at Kokanee Crankworx, we took a little break from biking this afternoon for the Canadian Cheese Rolling Championships. As the only official non-biking event at Crankworx, and with season passes to Whistler Blackcomb on the line, this event attracts all kinds of characters!

Check out the hilarity as these cheese fans race down a hill chasing a wheel of cheese in hopes of emerging victorious: