EVENTS

🦵 Crankworx Kicks Off

It’s that time of year.

The snow’s melting, allergy medicine becomes as essential as your wallet, and the Crankworx World Tour kicks off.

A couple epic events have already gone down at Crankwork Rotorua 2025 and the weekend is shaking up to be an absolute banger. This iconic event kicks off the Crankworx World Tour, with stops in Cairns and Whistler lined up to bring the gnar across multiple geographies.

What To Look Out For

After a long winter of grinding and perfecting new tricks, the world’s best slopestyle riders are ready to strut their new arsenal at the Maxxis Slopestyle event.

With big names like Emil Johansson, David Godziek, and Erik Fedko missing, the door is wide open for the young guns to take over. We’ve got our eyes on Kaidan Ingersoll and Jake Atkinson.

Ingersoll, in particular, has seriously stepped up his game since landing his Monster sponsorship and is our favorite to win. On the women’s side, all eyes are on Patricia Druwen - can she take down Natasha Miller after falling short in Christchurch?

Meanwhile, the racers aren’t just battling for cash; they’re chasing crucial points in the race for King and Queen of Crankworx. Defending champs Ryan Gilchrist and Martha Gill won’t go down without a fight, pushing full throttle in Downhill and Dual Slalom.

Speaking of Ryan Gilchrist, you gotta check out his new custom painted DJ we covered on our IG.

What Happened Last Year?

Looking back at Rotorua 2024, the women's slopestyle scene made history.

Kiwi rider Robin Goomes who most recently won the first Women’s Red Bull Rampage, also clinched gold at the first-ever Women's Crankworx FMBA Slopestyle World Championship last year.

But the men didn’t even hit a jump…

Last year at Rotorua, the male slopestyle riders straight-up boycotted the event. They were fed up with low prize money and especially the lack of appearance fees.

In 2024, the event organizers bumped up the prize money by 37% compared to 2023, aiming to attract top-tier talent and keep the competition fierce. Despite this increase, the male slopestyle riders felt it wasn't enough.

We don’t have a read yet on what prize money is out for Crankworx Rotorua but if you know hit our line!

The Schedule

Saturday, March 8

• Maxxis Slopestyle in Memory of McGazza: Kicking off at 9:00 AM NZDT, the top slopestyle riders take to the course

• Crankworx Rotorua Downhill: Later in the day, from 2:30 PM NZDT, the downhill demons take to the trails.

Sunday, March 9

• Specialized Dual Slalom Rotorua: Wrapping up the weekend, this head-to-head battle starts at 4:00 PM NZDT. Riders will go bar-to-bar on parallel tracks, combining speed and strategy in a race where every millisecond counts.

Like with almost every MTB event, you know where to tune in: Red Bull TV! 🐂