March 25, 2009 (Whistler, BC) – After celebrating a year of milestones in 2008 including more than 800,000 webcast and online content views; the first-ever double backflip at a major mountain bike competition; the birth of the Giant Slalom and the VW Trick Showdown, Kokanee Crankworx is ready to blow the lid off in 2009.

“Every year it gets harder to raise the bar but we are confident that we have developed an incredible line-up for this year,” says Jeremy Roche, Kokanee Crankworx General Manager. “We are fortunate to be able to tap into so many key industry insiders who help ensure we keep our events fresh and relevant to the ever-changing mountain bike fraternity.”

Kokanee Crankworx 2009 will take place August 8-16 in Whistler, B.C. As always, the Festival will provide events for all ages and abilities. “One of the hallmarks of Kokanee Crankworx is the opportunity for all levels of riders to enter events and compete on courses with some of the best pros from around the world,” says Roche. This year will be no exception with eleven events over nine days open to recreational riders and pros alike.

A hot new event this year is the Canadian Open Enduro taking place on Saturday, August 15. The Enduro combines the best elements of downhill and x-country to create a hybrid event that showcases true all-mountain riders. It will begin with a mass start, by categories, on the upper reaches of Whistler Mountain and will follow a course featuring some of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s best all-mountain trails. The total vertical descent will be in the range of 4,000 feet (1,210 meters) and the fastest times are expected to be over 25 minutes. Plans are for the course to be designed with input from the gurus of this emerging discipline including Mark Weir, Brian Lopes and Richie Schley.

The full athletic schedule is as follows:

August 8: Dual Slalom
August 9: Monster Energy Garbanzo Downhill
August 9: Ken Quon Memorial X/C Race
August 10: Ride the Whistler Mountain Bike Park
August 11: WomenzWorx presented by Sombrio Girl
August 12: Air Downhill
August 13: VW Trick Showdown
August 14: “Giant” Giant Slalom
August 15: TrialsWorx
August 15: Canadian Open Enduro
August 15: Monster Energy Slopestyle
August 16: Canadian Open Downhill presented by Kona

The Canadian Open Enduro will be part of Kokanee Crankworx’s final weekend featuring the highly anticipated Monster Energy Slopestyle on Saturday night and the entire Festival will be capped off with the third running of the Canadian Open Downhill presented by Kona on Sunday, August 16th.