August 14, 2012 (Whistler, BC) – Crankworx Whistler’s Garbanzo DH is infamous for being the world’s longest DH track used in competition. Canadian World Cup racer Steve Smith has been defeated by the very long and technical track the last four times he has raced it; either crashing or just not going fast enough.

This year Smith finally defeated his nemesis, crossing the finish line with a time of 12:33.27, an impressive feat considering the length of the course is 12km and drops 3,400 vertical feet. Second fastest man was Columbian Marcelo Gutierrez Villega +5.48 and in third, Australian Chris Kovarik +15.40.

Canadian women swept the podium today with Casey Brown in first at 14:28.74, Miranda Miller in second +3.23 and Whistler’s Claire Buchar (CAD) +3.26.

“This is the first time I have had a clean run in competition on Garbanzo and I took the win,” says Smith. “It is a long race so you don’t absolutely ‘kill’ anything. I just kept a good pace all the way; I wasn’t really slow and I wasn’t really fast.”

This kind of race really tests the World Cup racers since they train to reach the maximum speed they can sustain for the duration of 3-4 minutes. The Garbanzo track has them descending three times as long as that. The most successful riders have to find the fastest pace they can sustain for a long period of time and just hang on. At the end of the day, the conditions couldn’t have been more ideal for the race. The track was rolling really quick and the clock showed it with athletes coming in with the fastest times ever recorded in Garbanzo DH competition.

Course Route
The same course as 2011 was used – Riders start behind the Garbanzo lift hut -> Original Sin (including the uphill section) -> exit Original Sin at the step down/step up tree island on the Dave Murray flats -> proceed down Blue Velvet -> traverse and proceed into In Deep -> after rock face turn left towards Container (FatCrobbat would require a right turn at this point) -> from Container into No Joke/ Duffman -> remain on Duffman until merges with Golden Triangle -> continue on World Cup Singletrack -> Ho Chi Min -> Longhorn -> Monkey Hands -> GLC drops to finish.

Online Results HERE.
Current event photography HERE.

Live Streaming Webcast Schedule for Crankworx Whistler 2012
The webcasts, powered by Red Bull Media House, are live streamed at www.crankworx.com, www.redbull.com/bike .

Saturday August 11
– REPLAY – Canadian Open Enduro
– REPLAY – Dual Speed & Style presented by AVID

Sunday August 12
– REPLAY – Garbanzo DH

Wednesday August 15
– Air DH – 3:30pm-5:30pm

Thursday August 16
– Teva Best Trick – 4:00pm-6:00pm
– Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by Rock Shox – 8:00pm-9:00pm

Friday August 17
– Red Bull Joyride Qualifiers – 1:30pm-3:00pm
– GIANT Dual Slalom Amateur – 3:30pm-5:30pm
– GIANT Dual Slalom Pro – 6:00pm-8:00pm

Saturday August 18
– Red Bull Joyride Finals – 5:30pm-7:30pm

Sunday August 19
– Jeep Canadian Open DH – 3:00pm-5:00pm

The ninth annual Crankworx Whistler is presented by Whistler Blackcomb and the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Crankworx Whistler is the biggest annual event held in Whistler and is also the largest freeride mountain bike festival in the world. Crankworx Les 2 Alpes took place for the first time July 9-15, 2012 and was the first Crankworx event to take place outside of North America. This new event will build on Crankworx’s legendary legacy in the arena of freeride mountain biking.