Words and images by Saskia Dugon
Imagine a mix of mud sweat and tears. Add rain, hail and lightning to that image and you come close to what Crankworx Les Gets had to offer. Despite a week of cancelled events the Crankworx Les Gets downhill remained firmly on schedule – with the rain only making the track gnarlier!
With over 330 people signing on for practice and seeding, only 204 of those riders made it to the line for seeding. There was certainly going to be a split between those who loved the track and those who hated it. Chain Reaction Cycles Paypal rider Mike Jones seeded in 1st place, probably thanks to years of wet, Welsh hillsides. With only 1.56 seconds between them, Brendan Fairclough seeded closely in 3rd showing that all the sloppy loam riding in the surrey hills over winter, paid off as training for this race.
In the Elite Womens field, it was Aussie national champ Tracey Hannah which took the win over Morganne Charre by a mere 0.32 seconds, whilst 3rd place Jill Kintner had some catching up to do being over 19 seconds behind.
Specialized junior rider Fin Illes took a hefty crash in seeding meaning that he lost the speed needed to cross the river gap and had to opt for the chicken line river crossing, despite that he still managed to grab a 4th place in seeding.
Wideopen Test rider Monet Adams took quite a tumble during seeding, along with a large number of riders, men and women. It was a real test of who could stay rubber side down to the finish line, never mind actually going fast.
Monet was out testing her new Scott Gambler Wideopen demo – you can read more about that this week or watch her recent video here.
“Although the terrain varied, the common factor was that it was soaking wet! The best thing to do was just put your preconceptions or worries aside and ride your bike”
Monet Adams







Just as the racing finished off, the rain rolled in, it was possibly the only time that the weather had held off long enough for the riders to enjoy a day at Crankworx Les Gets. Lets hope for better weather in Whistler Crankworx!