Faces of Crankwork: EWS 100 draws global roster of racers
Who shows up to race the amateur Enduro World Series event? All kinds of people from all over the world
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Party shirts were in full effect at the EWS 100
The Enduro World Series is the elite level of global enduro racing, pitting the best pros against the hardest courses around the globe. The EWS 100 is a parallel event held at each EWS stop that lets amateurs race the exact same course. It’s held in part to give aspiring pros the opportunity to qualify for the big show. But it’s also open to whoever wants to race.
Over the weekend, I struggled my way through Whistler’s EWS 100 race, the big kick-off of Crankworx return home to Canada. We did all the same stages as the pro men and women, though not quite at the same pace. The pros also repeated the marathon Stage 5 on Saturday and again on Sunday while the EWS 100 route only raced it once.
Along with many fast locals, I met riders from Calgary, Halifax, Chile, Taiwan, Poland and all over Europe. One great feature of enduro is that, with plenty of time spent slogging up long climbs and recovering before and after race stages, you end up meeting and talking to more other riders than you would at something like a cross country event or the ultra-focus of a downhill race. Riders ranged from the expected (bike shop employees and owners, and bike industry employees) to a former road racer, students and all kinds of other people that just really like riding bikes. Here are just a few of the people I met throughout the day.
Sarah Coney, a Canadian road racer, Solenne Correard and Anne Jans from France and the Netherlands.
Poland's Nicodem Iskra, Damian Syk, and Przemyslaw Kanik crossed the Atlantic to race in Whistler.
Scott Cervery and Zack Smith travelled all the way from Halifax, bringing St. John's Enduro Series experience to the EWS.
Thomas Momberg and five friends travelled to Whistler from Chile. Some raced EWS, a few more raced Air DH. Everyone was stoked on Whistler Bike Park.
Sam Butler-Woodhouse travelled up from just south of L.A., California to race the EWS 100. He also saved my phone when it jumped out of my pocket mid-race.
