EWS Round 6: through Peter Wojnar's lens

The sidelines of every race course in our sport seem to be packed with yelling, cheering spectators, with cowbells, whistles, and the occasional airhorn. We're lucky enough that the sound of a camera's shutter is also pretty ubiquitous—with so many photographers and videographers on course at most races, we get an insane variety of media content to stare at until the next event. The media circus includes everyone from seasoned pros with more cameras than hairs on their heads, to proud parents with flip phones, and everything in between.

In the spirit of variety, here are a few photographs from parts of yesterday's EWS course that didn't have 15 cameras pointing every which way.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Richie Rude had a knack for looking fast on course, and that he won was no surprise to anyone who saw him go by. Shady Acres and Del Boca Vista may be green circles on the trail map, but at the top pros' speed, there's some fancy footwork involved nonetheless.


Mckay Vezina rounding another scary corner, going fast enough to secure 14th place.

Antonia Wurth putting on a cornering clinic on Stage 1 of the long and difficult race.

Richie Rude and Damien Oton, seeded 1st and 2nd. Who looks like they're going faster? And who has the flat tire?

The trouble with stage races is that if you want to shoot the last racer on course, riders earlier in the start order are already dropping in before you can make it to the next stage. Unfortunately, that usually means the ladies don't get as much media coverage from a one-man-show camera guy... which is a shame, because they rip. Exhibit A, Anneke Beerten on Angry Pirate.

Where most people grab two handfuls of brakes, Josh Carlson prefers to tuck. You know, for speed.

Eyes on the prize. It takes unwavering focus to podium, and Carlson has it down.

Jesse Melamed took second place at his home race, the best result of his career (so far). We still need more research to definitively say that the quality of your death stare is correlated with your ability to podium... but it's hard to argue with this evidence.

Remy Gauvin, also a long-time staple of the Whistler race scene, busting a lung in an open section for 12th place.

Someone cracked a joke about Ritchie breaking his cranks sprinting out of this corner... but he did actually manage to rip the cleat off his shoe.

Not only does having men and women share the podium promote gender equality in mountain biking and help break down the boys club, but the champagne explosion is twice as good.

Women:
1. Cecil Ravinel
2. Isabeau Courdurier
3. Casey Brown

Men:
1. Richie Rude
2. Jesse Melamed
3. Josh Carlson