Canadian Brett Rheeder overcame his nerves and the biggest slopestyle course ever built in New Zealand to claim the inaugural Crankworx Rotorua Slopestyle title.
Thousands of fans flocked to Mt Ngongotaha yesterday afternoon to witness the slopestyle competition, which was the feature event at Crankworx Rotorua.
Image 1 of 26: Connor Fearon pro-elite men's downhill.
The course featured jumps up to 5.5m high and some riders reached twice that height as they pulled off tricks over each jump.
The champion Rheeder said it was nerve-racking waiting at the top of the course for your turn to ride.
"It is so stressful at the top and I think everyone feels the same, but we all did our gnarliest runs," he said.
"I didn't think about the other riders' runs. I just thought about what I had to do and managed to put it together and overcome the nerves."
Rheeder, 22, already knew he had won the competition before completing his last run at the Skyline Gravity Park, which meant he got to soak in the victory during his final run of the course.
"I have never had a victory lap before so it is pretty special," he said. "I am on top of the world."
Each rider had two runs of the course with the top score counting. Judges scored each rider on their tricks rather than on how long it took to complete the course.
Rheeder scored 93.33 on his first run which was not bettered throughout the afternoon.
Only two other riders managed to wow the six judges enough to give them a score in the 90s, including second-placed Nicholi Rogatkin (USA) and third-placed Thomas Genon (Belgium).
World number one slopestyle rider Brandon Semenuk (Canada) had a day to forget yesterday after two bad runs.
He crashed on the last jump during his first run, then pulled out early during his second run.
That made way for fellow countryman Rheeder, who claimed the $20,000 winner's cheque and all-important points towards the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour.
The 20 best slopestyle riders in the world attended the event yesterday. The only Kiwi in the field, Kelly McGarry (Queenstown), finished 15th overall.
PHOTO STEPHEN PARKER
McGarry built the course alongside his track-building partner Tom Hey, and the huge course received plenty of praise from the riders who took part.
The slopestyle competition was the final event at the five-day Crankworx Rotorua festival.
Event director Tak Mutu said he was not sure how big the crowd was but tickets were selling non-stop for three hours before the slopestyle competition started.
