Best of Crankworx Rotorua 2018 – Video & Photo Epic
We spent Five Rad Days in Rotorua catching all the action of Crankworx, shredding mind-blowing trails and going Full-Kiwi-Adventure-Mode!
Day 1
Day 1 in paradise was spent shuttling the trails of the Whakarewarewa forest, zip-lining through the canopy and we wrapped it all up with a mountain bike trivia night.
Early mornings aren’t so bad when you have epic views of Rotorua’s famous geothermal steam rising from lake RotoruaOn the way up at the Redwoods thanks to Southstar ShuttlesLachie McKillop heading down the Redwoods downhill trackJackson and Dave McMillan with the sweet timing.Snakes on a train.Dave with a nice turn bar towards the bottom.Located the other side of the hill from the Crankworx site, the Rotorua Canopy Tours are a great place to check out if you’d like a few hours off the bike.More epic views, this time from above trail level.
Day 2
After kicking off day 2 by throwing ourselves down the rapids of Kaituna River, with its six-metre waterfall, we headed out to Skyline to see riders throw down in the Dual Speed and Style Qualifiers before the crowd-pleasing Pumptrack Challenge under lights.
Beautiful scenes with huge flocks of birds travelling in packs over the edge of Lake RotoruaThe bus + rafts on the way to the Awa (Māori word for River)Duel Speed & Style Quali’s went down today with some rad riders throwin tricks in with some serious speed.R-Dog with a steezy 360 on the final hit on the courseDusty ruts on flat turns in the slalom portion of the trackThe new track location & layout for the Rockshox Pumptrack Challenge, presented by Torpedo 7 was a major success. Enabling a lot more people to get a good view of the track and providing some high intensity riding with the new, super fast pumptrack.Barry Nobles looking strong early on, but getting knocked out due to the super fast, technical new pumptrack built by Empire Of Dirt NZJill Kitner rolling through with another win under her belt, in for a good shot at this years queen of Crankworx
Rockshox Rotorua Pump Track Challenge presented by Torpedo7
Day 3
Our third day in mountain bike paradise began with another trip to the Redwoods, this time with a guided ride from the team at Mountain Bike Rotorua, to make sure we didn’t miss any tasty bits. With a belly full of Roto loam, it was back out to Skyline, to join the frothing masses for the Dual Speed and Style finals, before the big wigs sent it sideways under lights in the Whip-Off Champs.
Our rad ride guide Wade, apart from chosing trails to ride based on what style of riding we wanted to tackle, but also gave some really interesting insight into the commercial logging forrest that has been adapted into such a huge MTB destination in NZOur guide leading the way downOne of the best parts of Rotorua’s Whakarewarewa Forrest is its diversity in trail selection which is something we were reminded of today. There is such a huge range of routes to take, weaving in and out of the 80+ trails through the forrest, with options for the most gnarly pro’s, all the way through to beginners and little shreddersWade our guide shredding down the trail network he has enjoyed since the very first track in the Redwoods, ‘Old BMX Track’ 15+ years agoThe upside of this particualr trail is a super chilly & refreshing drink top up and maybe even a quick dip if it’s really hotBarry Nobles head to head with Kiwi rider Joe Simpson, who advanced to the next round over the American riderCrowds werent just huddled down the finish straight, but spread all the way up the hill to the start gatesThe local crowds favourite came super close to the top step, but unfortunately due to a fall in the first run of the finals, he wasn’t able to make up the time. However, he was still pretty stoked with 2nd and gave the crowd something to cheer about!
Mons Royale Dual Speed & Style
Straight from his win on the Dual Speed & Style, Soderstrom pulled out some rad whips alongside a plethora of riding steezFriday done right, whipping into the weekend with your matesCanberra’s Dave McMillan looked unreal all night with his steezy whipsDave McMillan x Kaos SeagraveSome familiar faces on this years whip off podium, alongside some new additions including Kiwi female shredder Vinny Armstrong
Day 4
The fourth of our Five Rad Days in Rotorua got started with some serious off-bike adrenaline, as we jet-boated, bungee-swinged, skydived (kinda) and got sent flying down a hill inside a massive, inflatable golf ball thingo! It was quite the way to start the day! We’d hoped the morning’s madness would just be warm up for an afternoon of action at the Slopestyle, but you can’t fight the weather, and rain has seen the main event pushed back to Sunday.
Mad g-forces in the agrojet at Velocity ValleyCrazy feeling taking on the faux sky diving ride, with some classic NZ hills in the backgroundJust next door the Crankworx site is Ogo, Rotorua, the original downhill ball rolling crewUnfortunate scenes on and off all day at Skyline as we all waited for gaps in the rain for the Slopestyle boys to drop inIf you can beat them, join em?Defending champ Nicoli Rogatkin getting comfy with some tailwhips before the rain came again and unfortunately postponed the event.Stoked crowds keen to see what the amazing Crankworx Deep Summer Photo Challenge photographers created for this epic part of the Crankworx experienceThe well deserved winner for the night, Laurence Crossman-Emms alongside Rotorua local Connor Mahuika who feautred in Laurence’s presentation!
Deep Summer Rotorua 2018 – Winner – Laurence Crossman-Emms
Day 5
The upshot of the Slopestyle being postponed Saturday was that it meant we had a MASSIVE final day at Crankworx, with both the downhill and Slopestyle taking place. It couldn’t have been more perfect; the mud made the downhill a thrilling battle to survive, and then the sun came out enough to leave the Slopestyle course in prime condition.
Crankworx Rotorua Downhill
Muddy, Rutted, Greasy, Sick! These are just a couple of the many words used to describe todays conditionsTaking th top spot for the women was Tahnee Seagrave, taking this gap even in the less then ideal conditionsLoic couldn’t take the win today in tough conditions!Talking out the top step of the podium for the mens, Kiwi rider Sam BlenkinsopYIEWWWW!
Crankworx Rotorua Slopestyle in Memory of McGazza
Slopestyle has now become a very special, sacred part of Crankworx, Rotorua, with the event being run in the memory of our lost friend, Kelly McGarryThe starting feature, complete with New Zealand wood carving!Brett Rheeder in his winning first run, reclaiming the title of winner from way back at the beginning of Crankworx in RotoruaNicoli loading up his unreal triple tail-whip!Your 2018 Crankworx, Rotorua Slopestyle Podium! 1st Brett Rheeder 2nd Thomas Genon 3rd Diago CavezasiIt’s ya boy… Brett Rheeder!The winnings + the steed that took Rheeder to victory
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