Red Bull took many of the top freeride mountain bike pros’ input and designed a “go big or go home” freeride course that’s completely new from the ground up just for this year’s Kokanee Crankworx mountain bike festival in July. Video above shows some of the planning process, and press releases after the break help tell the story and include the full schedule of events for the 2011 Kokanee Crankworx…
RED BULL JOYRIDE PRESS RELEASE:
When handed the keys to the mountain, you best deliver the goods. Or go big trying. Prepare for Red Bull Joyride, the newly minted anchor event of the 2011 Kokanee Crankworx Festival, on Saturday, July 23, in Whistler, BC. Fusing elements of slopestyle, dirt jump and North Shore mountain biking, Red Bull Joyride will culminate into one gravity-fed, season-defining freeride mountain bike competition, the likes of which Whistler Mountain has never seen.
Construction will begin at the base on May 1, on a course 100 percent inspired and designed by professional mountain bike athletes. While incorporating as much of the natural terrain as possible, the athletes conceived their ultimate playground, lined with gargantuan manmade features to showcase their skill and imagination. With so much talent in the room and passion on the table, we decided to capture the collaboration and design process. Watch the first of an exclusive video series here: www.redbull.ca/Joyride.
Professional mountain bike athlete Darren Berrecloth, a long-time competitor at Kokanee Crankworx, championed the process: “The opportunity for us riders to provide our ideas to Red Bull Joyride is phenomenal. With this kind of input it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser and a rider favourite.” Anticipating the quality of both course and competition, the Freeride Mountain Bike Association will once again recognize the slopestyle event at Kokanee Crankworx as a Diamond Stop, one of only two worldwide.
“Kokanee Crankworx is stoked to work with Red Bull to present the next generation of slopestyle competition,” says Darren Kinnaird, Kokanee Crankworx General Manager. “We have been pushing the limits of competition in the arena of gravity-fuelled mountain biking with this festival for seven years and having Red Bull on board to present Joyride in our eighth year is a very big indication of our commitment to the sport’s evolution.”
Having incubated the course design, Red Bull is now entrusting the build to Joyride, a long-time event production, course design and construction company. Joyride started it’s life cycle in 1997 when their team designed a Whistler Bike Park trail called, yup, Joyride, which is still in operation today. Owner Paddy Kaye can’t wait to get started on the new course build: “The vision of what I’m doing, a rider-created and rider-built course, is the same vision the Red Bull team has, so it seems like the stars have definitely aligned.”
For more info, articles and a continuing behind-the-scenes video series on the course build and athlete profiles, please visit www.redbull.ca/Joyride
CRANKWORX SCHEDULE PRESS RELEASE:
Kokanee Crankworx, the biggest and most prestigious freeride mountain bike festival on the planet is back for 2011. This year’s competition promises to continue the festival’s reputation for hosting the most progressive events on two wheels.
2011 Kokanee Crankworx Event Schedule:
Friday, July 15 – Fat Tire Crit – details TBA
Saturday, July 16 – Dual Slalom
Sunday, July 17 – Garbanzo Downhill
Tuesday, July 19 – Canadian Open DH
Wednesday, July 20 – Jeep Air Downhill
Wednesday, July 20 – Deep Summer Photo Challenge
Thursday, July 21 – Teva Best Trick Showdown
Thursday, July 21 – Ultimate Pumptrack Challenge presented by Rock Shox
Thursday, July 21 – Red Bull Joyride qualifying
Friday, July 22 – GIANT Slalom
Saturday, July 23 – Red Bull Joyride Finals
Sunday, July 24 – Canadian Open Enduro Challenge presented by Kona
While all of the events on the calendar are returning from last year, there have been a couple of significant changes. First the Canadian Open DH has been moved from its closing position on the final Sunday to Tuesday July 19.
“Moving the Canadian Open DH to Tuesday will make for an action-packed start to the festival with three very different downhill events over four days. There is nowhere else in the world where downhill competitors have this kind of variety and quality of racing,” says Darren Kinnaird, Kokanee Crankworx General Manager. “Shifting the Canadian Open DH will allow our national team competitors the opportunity to compete in the Kokanee Crankworx downhills and still participate in the Canadian Nationals. Further it allows us to feature the new format of the Canadian Open Enduro Challenge on the final weekend of the festival. A new format and course is being developed with the assistance of Richie Schley, and the event will be apart of the newly formed North American Enduro Tour.”
With exciting new partnerships launching including the Red Bull Joyride freeride event on July 23 and events getting bigger and better in typical Crankworx fashion, July will be here with ten days of freeride insanity in no time. Besides the scheduled sporting events, the Deep Summer Photo Challenge will be back for it’s third year on Wednesday July 20 and plans are being finalized for the rest of the entertainment line-up.
Stay tuned to www.crankworx.com for upcoming news and connect with Crankworx through Facebook.com/crankworx or Twitter.com/crankworx.
