Throughout Crankworx, Mons’ presence was dominant, with no less than a grand “palace of merino” in the expo area. The huge tent attracted friends old and new to catch up over a coffee, preview next summer’s collection and grab some Spring Summer 18 to ride their way through the week in!
Hosting the likes of Adrien Loron, Jakub Vencl and Conor Macfarlane, the tent was a central point for talking up the day’s events and the night before’s shenanigans! And when the rain came down, spectators flocked to Mons to have a yarn and pick up some extra layers.
The Mons team were especially stoked to be over at Skyline Rotorua for the week, as it meant time for a few laps of the gondola and rides over at the famous Whakarewarewa Redwoods. The Mons girls also linked up with Liv Cycles for their ladies ride to test out some kit and take some laps. With a colossal turn out of 100 girls ruling the dirt, you know it was a good time!
As a title sponsor of the Dual Speed & Style, Mons certainly activated both on and off the course with an unreal amount of Mons Royale around. On the course, Mons branding was visible at every turn whilst the crowd held more people rocking Mons than we’ve ever seen!
Athletes, friends, press and industry folks all joined us in the VIP section at the Dual Speed & Style to watch the action trackside from the best vantage point. Taking full advantage of the hotdogs and beers, we were stoked to have an epic crew connect for some hootin and hollerin!
“On the course, Mons was visible at every turn whilst the crowd held more people rocking Mons than we’ve ever seen!”Being on Kiwi soil, it was only fitting that throughout the week we experienced New Zealand’s famous 4-seasons-in-a-day conditions. But as the Dual Speed & Style kicked off, the clouds cleared, the rain held off and the competitors had a great run on the innovative course by the world-renowned Empire Of Dirt guys. One of the most interesting formats of mountain bike racing, the Dual Speed & Style course adds in some massive booters and fun features to wide berms and slaloms to test riders ability for both hucks and hoons! Jump lines and timed runs aren’t necessarily a natural accompaniment and as ever the riders were in for a challenge. With a change to the judging from previous years, riders were forced to go bigger and more technical than ever to keep scoring fair and stay true to the Speed and Style format.
The level of riding seen this year was high as ever and even riders like Tomas Slavik stepped up their game – in Slavik’s case, this came in the form of a newly landed backflip!
As we moved through the heats, old favourites were knocked out and no one was more surprised than kiwi bmx’er Joe Simpson who knocked out big dawg Barry Nobles with a high tricks score.
A pumped crowd went wild for the wildcard Joe Simpson who again threw down in the finals to take silver, whilst the reigning King of Crankworx Adrien Loron was nudged into bronze position. However, the man of the hour was undoubtedly Martin Söderström who took the top step of the podium for the first time in three years with a winning combination of speed and style.
Another week in the books for bikes, beers and battles, and we’re already frothing for the next stop. See you in Innsbruck!
Images: Callum Wood.
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