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Cancelling Crankworx Whistler: Darren Kinnaird on making the call

Crankworx World Tour boss is optimistic about what the future holds for the festival, and the sport of mountain biking

brett rheeder crankworx red bull joyride slopestyle

At this point, we’re all used to seeing notices that cycling events have been cancelled or postponed. Crankworx Whistler is a different beast, though. Thousands flock to the mountain town an hour north of Vancouver for 10 days of competition, celebration and events. On the final Sunday alone, 35,000 spectators show up for the marquee Red Bull Joyride Slopestyle.

Putting all of this on hold for a year is no simple feat. Crankworx General Manager Darren Kinnaird took time Tuesday to walk us through what goes into cancelling the world’s single biggest celebration of mountain biking.

While putting his organization’s biggest festival on hold has to be a hard decision to make, Kinnaird remains optimistic. Instead of focusing on what’s missing in 2020, the Crankworx organizer is excited about the future, both for the event and for the sport of mountain biking. Crankworx has been around since 2004. Kinnaird is confident the festival will be ready to return to Whistler as soon as it is possible to do so.

Crankworx Joyride Whistler 2014 Brandon Semenuk
Brandon Semenuk riding in the 2014 Crankworx Whistler Joyride competition. Photo: Crankworx
Canadian Cycling Magazine: At the time that Enduro World Series’ Whistler event was cancelled, it sounded like Crankworx was still trying to make something happen. What was in the works, and what has changed now?

Darren Kinnaird: Well, we were waiting for guidance from the province at that time, to understand what might be feasible. It just became clear that with the guidelines being no festivals or events over 50 people during this summer that it was going to be a real difficult challenge to do anything. That was the writing on the wall for us that it was just not going to be feasible to do Crankworx Whistler.

Some events are looking to go ahead, hockey and some road races, even if they have to do so without fans. Was that ever an option for Crankworx?

It was something we did look at. But as international travel is still basically ground to a halt it became clear that that wasn’t going to be an option. There’s just so much uncertainty about when borders are opening and when people are going to be able to get back to international travel that going ahead without fans wasn’t going to be possible.

We would have loved to have done it. But, well the NHL has considerably more money than we do.

BC’s Restart Plan prevents festivals and large gatherings indefinitely until there is a vaccine for COVID-19. Has there been talk of what Crankworx 2021 will look like if that vaccine doesn’t happen?

Not in any concrete form just yet. We’re just super hopeful that there is something that comes up – a vaccine, or a cure. In the meantime, we’ll consider different concepts and ideas and plan-B’s.

I think it will all come down to what travel looks like, and how international travel can happen – how much is it going to cost, how easy is it going to be, what it would take to host without a vaccine, if there’s testing involved, ect. When we have a clearer picture of the parameters and challenges and opportunities that we’re facing we’ll know what might be possible in the future.

Crankwrox Whistler
Jordy Scott vs. Jill Kinter in the Red Bull Pump Track Challenge in 2019. Credit: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2019
Cancelling something like Crankworx involves more than just saying “see you next year.” What all goes into cancelling a massive event like this?

There are many stakeholders that are involved in the whole process. The community of Whistler, the athletes that are involved, our partners and sponsors. Part of it is having to discuss what this all means with each of them. There’s many layers of conversations that have taken place in the last couple of weeks that have led us to the announcement today. For a decision that has this big of an impact, it certainly requires many conversations. We were always hopeful something might make sense but, alas, not to be.

Whistler is the biggest event for Crankwrox, and Crankworx is huge for Whistler’s tourism industry. How does this impact the organization, and the town?

There’s so much uncertainty about how the coronavirus is going to impact how people travel, and how travel is going to change. I think the borders not opening is going to have a bigger impact on Whistler.

I think we’re going to see a summer where people explore the province and travel around the province. If the camping website crashing yesterday is any indication I think people are excited to get out there and explore their province again and see what it is all about.

It’s going to be a different summer for our community here in Whistler. What that is going to entail, we’ll have to see.

Queen of Crankworx King of Crankworx
Vaea Verbeeck was crowned Queen of Crankworx in Whistler at the end of the 2019 season.
What does the future look like for Crankworx in Whistler?

Hopefully its a return to normal in 2021!

It seems like the whole world went out and bought a bike. I heard the joke last week that bikes are the new toilet paper. I think camping gear will soon become the new toilet paper. So I think mountain biking and cycling as a whole has a great future, and there’s lots to be excited about in the future. When they lifted the full lockdown in New Zealand last week, they had the busiest day they’ve ever had at the Redwoods Forest in Rotorua. Cycling and mountain biking is alive and well globally. Hopefully, all these new cyclists and enthusiasts are going to be really into this sport. It’s a new opportunity going forward. We’re confident that we’ll be back bigger and better than ever in the future!

Last, is Crankworx Innsbruck still on schedule?

Things are still looking really good in Innsbruck. They’ve done a really great job of handling the coronavirus issues in Austria and things are looking really positive there. We’re optimistic about getting over there and being able to do a great Crankworx Innsbruck-style!