Project 52 Week 34 - Redbull Joyride at Whistler

Every year the crankworx mountain bike festival brings hoards of mountain bikers and fans to the village of Whistler. It is a fantastic festival that celebrates the spirit of all things mountain biking. The Redbull Joyride slopestyle event has become one of the largest spectacles in the sport, behind only the Redbull Rampage down in Utah. This year the course had progressed to a new level still, and although the weather was threatening to trample the event, the rain cleared and the mountainside quickly filled to watch the most skilful guys on two wheels throw down some simply massive stunts. Brandon Semenuk managed to pull off the win with an excellent run. Martin Soderstrom may have stolen it from him on the last run of the day, but he crashed and broke his Tibia and Fibia on the final obstacle of the course, sending Brandon into the history books as one of only 3 riders to ever win the event twice.

I have shot this event several times, although never with a pass that gets you closer and with less distracting objects in the way. This year I just wandered around a few places and took a few images from the best angles I could find. I was pretty happy with this shot of Semenuk back flipping off the Kokanee cabin on his way to a score of 96 out of a possible 100.

Brandon Semenuk backflips off the cabin, landing some 18-20 feet below the take off point.