Finish Line Interviews: Red Bull Rampage 2022 Podium & All Award Winners
Brett Rheeder - 1st Place & Diggers Award
Brett you just won the Redbull Rampage, congrats man how does it feel?
Brett Rheeder: Thank you so much!
And we’re here with the dig team, Austin Davignon and Phil McLean you guys got it done!
Brett Rheeder: Yea it’s a dream team. We dedicated a lot of our effort, actually all of our effort went into this build and it seems surreal that we actually finished it. We were still tweaking the line this morning right at the end of practice and we thought we maybe didn’t have a top to bottom. So to be here with the win, with the digger award - [looks at Austin & Phil] the digger award, like damn!
Austin: Yea well someone had to carry the team.
Well it worked. You went fast at the top of your run where it’s really exposed, and some amazing tricks, but you also had that fast raw free ride action up top.
Brett Rheeder: I haven’t even seen the run! I was doing an interview with Tina Dixon and they showed my run and I was focused on the run - it was the live broadcast interview and I didn’t answer her questions good because I was trying to watch my run. But yea I’m looking forward to seeing it. I tried charging it as quick as I could on the top because that section is a bit dry. But yea once we dropped into our line it was game on.
Yea it was game on when you did the big back flip with the one footed can.
Brett Rheeder: Yea totally,
and the huge tail whip, single crown action….
Brett Rheeder: ha yep
OPPO THREE’S!
Brett Rheeder: I know, I know it was a crazy run. It felt super ambitious at the top and I somehow got it all done!
Well great job man, you’re the champion, good job to the boys and congratulations!
Szymon Godziek - 2nd Place
Congrats, second place. Your first Rampage podium! How you feeling?
Szymon Godziek: I'm so happy right now. I was so stressed before my run and once I landed that canyon gap flip, I was so relieved and I changed my plan on my last jump, did a safe trick to not mess it up. So happy.
Your first podium, what's it feel like after so many years?
Szymon Godziek: It's unreal. I couldn't believe. Then the second run got cancelled and here I am, in second place.
Brandon Semenuk - 3rd Place & Best Trick Award
Congratulations on third and the Best Trick Award on the start. How did that feel?
Brandon Semenuk: It was definitely gnarlier today after everyone rode down the chute a bunch and chewed it up. It was a little more wild feeling than the first time. Got down there, always a relief to get to the bottom of that chute and ride away.
I heard when you practiced, you didn’t even hesitate. You looked at it, grabbed your bike and just did it.
Brandon Semenuk: There’s no point hesitating, that’s just bad news. Pick up the bike and go.
You came here late and didn't have the chance to ride as much as you'd like, but still a good experience regardless?
Brandon Semenuk: I’m really happy with my riding today and the boys absolutely crushed it. The build was insane, considering that I wasn’t here for the first four days. We missed a ton of man hours, but we got it done and I was able to practice everything and got a run down. So all in all it was really good.
Tom Van Steenbergen - McGazza Spirit Award
Tom Congratulations, you got down with a safe run and won the Kelly McGarry Spirit Award. What does this mean to you?
Tom Van Steenbergen: Probably the coolest award to win. I love Kelly, we miss him, it's an honor to get that award.
You went for it last year and were on a winning run but hurt yourself bad. You fought through that, I can’t even believe you’re here, riding again and ripping.
Tom Van Steenbergen: Yea I can’t believe I'm here honestly too. It was not an easy road to go down and not an easy decision to come back. But Now that we have one clean run under the belt and heathy for the winter, and more than liek two months to prepare for the invite I’m already excited for next year. It’s going to be awesome.
Jaxson Riddle - Style Award
Congratulations another 9th place and another Best Style Award
Jaxson Riddle: Yeah dude the style award is honestly probably the best thing that I could win, it’s cooler than first place for sure
Yeah right, that’s what you love!
Jaxson Riddle: Yea exactly, style is everything.
that’s what you do
Jaxson Riddle: Oh yeah, I try to sometimes
well it was pretty stylish, looking good man.
Jaxson Riddle: Thank you so much.
Cam Zink - Toughness Award
Congratulations on making it to the bottom, and obviously upsetting about your buddy having a crash and you having to fight on. But that’s what you’re known for and you know what you’re in for, and how does it feel to get the toughness award.
Cam Zink: Yea this definitely wasn’t the award I was going for, I was here to win, and we put hours into the build, yet alone the months before getting ready for it. So it's a bit of a consolation but I’ll take it. They introduced it last year so to be the only toughness award winner back to back, I guess that’s cool and I greatly appreciated it because I try to teach my kids to be tough and overcome adversity and the obstacles along the way. But when everything went sideways and went bad, it started to kinda go well. This morning I didn’t know what line I was going to ride, but I was able to piece something together and have a run I was pretty proud of. Considering where I was kind of forced to be routed I was really pumped on my line. I knew it wasn’t going to be a winning one but ended up getting a line despite almost not getting out of bed this morning.
That’s the main thing, getting down with a good feeling and having some fun along the way right?
Cam Zink: Yea and honestly that was probably one of the most fun Rampage runs I’ve ever had because I wasn’t terrified. Once I checked off the big drop at the top. Which I was literally worried you could die on, as soon as I checked that off, it was like ok this makes sense you can ride it, I wasn’t really worried about anything, normally there’s a biggest jump or drop. So to be able to enjoy it more and vibing in my headphones it was a pretty enjoyable run. A 3 star for Jordie at the bottom, and nearly threw it away [laughs].
His podcast with Matt Macduff put the personality to the person for me:
themattmacduffshow.libsyn.com/7-ego-is-the-enemy-with-brett-rheeder
Legend.
Msybe they could provisionally score the first runs and then adjust after everyone has been in order to then rank the runs.
Riders have always crashed at rampage. They have always talked about being terrified. It’s a part of what they do and a part of why they love it.
This is the pinnacle of the sport, these hits are insane, they know what they are signing up for and the sport is better for it.
I’m convinced half of the pink bike commenters don’t even ride