My Crankworx Experience

Aug 26, 2008

The event everyone has been waiting for has finally started. The biggest names with the gnarliest tricks and speed. There was an enormous amount of prize money up for grabs and you bet that you will see the craziest stuff get thrown down to win cash.

This year my Crankworx experience was like no other. For the past few years I have come to Crankworx as a spectator and watched from the side lines. This year I was competing in the VW Trick Showdown and the Monster Energy Slopestyle thanks to my win at Whistler's Air Affair.

I arrived on the 7th and didn’t get into my condo until the 11th. I came out with my buddies, Stirling Grassick and Noah Brosseau. I bunked at their place for a couple nights and had a blast meeting new people and GIRLS obviously. I knew right off the bat that this year was going to be amazing. I would finally get to ride with riders like Darren Berrecloth, Cam McCaul and Cam Zink.

The first few days I rode the foam pit and learnt a few things and then I rode DJs and just hung out with other friends. Noah had a dual slalom race and placed 3rd in his category! Way to go Noah!! I had too much fun this year at Crankworx, my parents weren’t there, I was shredding each day with my best buddies and just having a blast.

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Thursday, the day the slopestylers started to compete. It was the Trick Showdown day. My first Crankworx competition, I was super stoked! The format was two 45 minute jam sessions on a dirtjump and on a wood feature. Greg Watts, Andrew Taylor, Cam McCaul, Kurt Sorge and I seshed the jump and threw down. I did a triple can and made the crowd go wild and then went to foot plant the one side of the spine and fell. Haha so funny! Brad Ewen, the main and best Crankworx announcer called me over and gave me 50 bucks for putting on a good show and egged me on to try and throw in another no foot can to make it a quadruple can or as I call it “ double pendulum”. I walked back and up the top, dropped in and went for the quad can. I kicked not once, or twice, nor three times but four infact and for completing that trick, Big Brad handed me 200 bucks in cold hard cash. I placed first in that session and was awarded a big check of $3000 and Darren Berrecloth invited me to his competition, “Clawworx”. I was so stoked!


The next session ended really fast after Watts pulled off a flip whip on the Kokanee step down! We all just basically gave up and did trains for the rest of the session. Congrats to Greg for winning the second session of the Trick Showdown and winning $3000 as well. We both walked away with around $3350 for putting on a good show.


SLOPESTYLE!.....I was super nervous in the morning before slopestyle. Thinking about how many people would be there watching me just killed me. I ended up doing a smooth clean first run so I decided to step it up for my second and I over rotated a 360 on the step down and knocked myself out. I have never taco’d one wheel, let alone two from this crash. I walked away with a bashed up back and face, swollen hand, and a bad concussion, which is why I have to call off competing in Clawworx after being personally invited by the man himself, Darren Berrecloth.

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This was by far the best year at Crankworx I have ever had. I can’t wait until next year!

Till then I will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Casey Groves
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