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Locals rule and birthday wins at Crankworx Downhill events

Finn Iles snags celebratory W and Georgia Astle wins's at home

Crankworx 2018
August 16, 2018
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Crankworx 2018
Finn Iles at the 2018 Fox Air DH.  Image: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2018

Canadian’s showed up in force for the mid-week Downhill races at the 15th annual Crankworx festival in Whistler.

Crankworx 2018
Georgia Astle racing the Garbanzo DH at 2018 Crankwrox. Image: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2018

Georgia Astle rode crowd support to a win in the long, grueling Garbanzo DH, beating fellow Whistler local Claire Buchar by 8 seconds over the 14-plus minute track. The two Kovarik Racing teammates added track familiarity to their formidable speed to beat World Cup podium regular Tracey Hannah of Polygon UR, who finished third.

Crankworx 2018
Sam Hill back on the DH bike racing Garbanzo DH at 2018 Crankwrox. Image: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2018

On the Men’s side, Sam Hill (Chain Reaction Mavic) took a break from his domination of the 2018 Enduro World Series to return to downhill racing for the day. Without missing a beat, Hill won the race over Jacob Dickson (Giant Factory Off-Road) and King of Crankworx contender Sam Blenkinsop (Norco Factory Racing)

Crankworx 2018
Vaea Verbeeck in the Fox Air DH. Image: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2018

With little rest, the downhillers were back at it the next day, racing the Fox Air DH. Queen of Crankworx leader Jill Kintner (Norco Factory Racing) was the lone American breaking up a full Canadian sweep of the Men’s and Women’s podium. Newly crowned Canadian downhill national champion Vaea Verbeeck (Rocky Mountain / Oakley) was a slim 0.40 seconds behind Kintner over 4 minutes 23 seconds on course. Casey Brown (Trek SRAM) of Revelstoke was close behind in third.

Crankworx 2018
Finn Iles keeps it low through the dust in Crankworx Fox Air DH. Image: Fraser Britton / Crankworx 2018

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity Racing) kicked off his birthday celebrations by winning the Men’s Fox Air DH, with a massive 2.29 second lead. Magnus Manson, the Canadian Men’s national downhill champion, was closest to the young Whistler racer. Previous Fox Air DH winner Bas van Steenbergen (Hyper Bikes Fox) slotted into third.