Most any mountain bike fan would perk up at the name Richie Rude: an American standout with two Enduro World Series (EWS) titles and plenty of frontline experience in the downhill realm as well. He added to his already-impressive trophy cabinet with gold in the 2024 men's elite Garbanzo DH (12:35.966).
Ryan Gilchrist (12:40.489) netted valuable King of Crankworx points with his silver medal, and Matt Walker battled to bronze in spite of his bike chain dislodging partway through the ordeal (12:45.387).
"My goal with Crankworx was to podium at one of the events," explained Rude. "I've only ever won the enduro here, so to do it in another event is pretty cool. I opted for the trail bike, and it was a bit rough through [the bike trails] In Deep and Original Sin, but I think it paid off. I pushed quite hard and got it done.
"It's definitely cool [to be in Whistler]. Every time we've come and done an enduro here, it's been pretty special winning, and it's always a big ticket thing to do."
Chipping away
Gilchrist thrives in long, enduro-style stages that allow him to find a groove and fight through lactic acid buildup. He, like Rude, went against the grain by pressing his trail bicycle into action and survived the course's top sections without incident. From that point forth, it was time to turn the screws and make them hurt.
According to his smartwatch, Gilchrist's heart averaged 184 beats per minute for the duration of his jaunt down Garbo.
"My performance was about as good as I could have hoped for," said the Aussie. "My run was basically perfect and I managed my fatigue really well. Richie's as good as it gets at this sort of thing, and coming second to him is a win for me."
If Crankworx had a separate award for flying by the seat of one's pants, it may have gone to Walker.
Pivoting out of a flat corner midway down the venue, the Kiwi suddenly lost all manner of forward drive. His brain knew what had transpired before his eyes glanced down and spotted his chain dangling uselessly off its cog. There was naught he could do to reattach it without stopping—and stopping wasn't an option.
When asked how he dealt with adversity, Walker responded: "Didn't really have a choice. I was just having a wild time up there, getting pretty loose and having a good time. When you're riding and feeling like that, you've just got to keep pushing. So even though [my chain fell off], I still had a good time. Happy as."
The King of Crankworx throne is never easy to assume, but Gilchrist has bolstered his lead in the standings with 886 points to date. His closest foe, incumbent King Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, wound up 12th after an uncharacteristic struggle on Garbanzo and is stuck at 756 points for the moment. Jackson Frew's eighth-place result also failed to move him up the leaderboard, and he stays in third with 685 points.
"Every single race is a good opportunity to earn points," said Gilchrist. "Some mishaps for Tuhoto and Jackson out there, who are my main competition in this category. I'm chipping away one piece at a time. It's really special for me to be able to [podium] in the Boneyard, but we're far from done."
A measure of redemption
Dane Jewett was less than thrilled with his Canadian Open DH performance. Though his big brother Jakob rose to a second straight championship, he wound up 12th overall after a mistake-filled outing by his own lofty expectations.
Disappointment nearly struck again on Garbanzo as an anxious Dane, clawing for every spare tidbit of speed, lost the handle on a tight corner. In spite of his unplanned rendezvous with a patch of vegetation, the Squamish native immediately righted himself to continue his lap.
Tenacity and skill got him to the finish line in 13:10.258, just quick enough to edge U19 men's runner-up Lewis Allbon (13:11.548) as Joe Millington clocked in for bronze (13:19.846).
"Pretty happy," Dane said. "Wasn't taking this one too seriously, but I thought I could win. It's so physical…glad I held on and didn't have any more crashes. Honestly, if you do a full Garbo run top to bottom without crashing, you're a pretty good rider."
Mateo Quist defended home soil with a triumph in the boys' U17 event (13:28.775) over Jonte Tummon (13:43.357) and Landon de Vall (14:09.666).
In the boys' U15, Mack Manietta carved his way to victory (13:46.084) ahead of Tomas Abrigo (14:11.026) and Jack Johnston (14:46.958).
Adult podiums were topped by the likes of Tereza Natrova (senior women), Kalden Charrette (senior men), Adrian Martinez (masters men), Pip Parr (veteran ladies) and Shane Gayton (veteran men).
Pique Newsmagazine will next have you covered on the Crankworx Air DH and Whip-Off Championship. Full results are available here.
