Tracy Moseley (Kona / Les Gets) won the Garbanzo enduro downhill race on the opening weekend of Crankworx. Riders battled appalling conditions and were slammed with a downhill marathon featuring wet, slimy roots, and rocks and a river of water running down the trail in many places. Riders also faced several 'north shore' style bridges that were incredibly slippery along with near vertical rock slabs in the top portion of this madness. Racers crashed everywhere throughout the 3,000 vertical foot monster of a course.
In some sections riders were seen to be tumbling and sliding down the trail losing all semblances of traction and their own bikes. Kona team representatives reported, "It resembled a Monty Python skit at times with riders cursing, crashing and tumbling straight down the mountain and sometimes into each other."
The rain held off for most of the day but the week of bad weather prior to the race did the damage. Moseley reported that she used seven goggle 'tear-offs' on the race course...a personal record. So much for her intentions to come to Whistler early to escape the wet weather that the United Kingdom is having lately.
Mosely finished ahead of Fionn Griffiths (Shrewsbury Norco / Griffiths Racing) and Joanna Petterson (HI Kapaa Brodie bikes). On the men's side, Australian Sam Hill (Monster Energy Ironhorse) won ahead of Justin Leov (Yeti / Fox Racing Factory Team) and Andrew Neethling (Draper Mongoose Bicycles). Steve Peat was not in attendance after dislocating his foot the previous week.
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