Crankworx Rotorua Speed & Style Results

Here we go! Crankworx Rotorua has begun with the first event being the CLIF Speed & Style Rotorua presented by Mons Royale. Here are your women’s results from the event.

1. Harriet BURBIDGE-SMITH AUS
2. Vaea VERBEECK CAN
3. Ronja HILL-WRIGHT AUS
4. Caroline BUCHANAN AUS
5. Ellie CHEW NZL

Kicking off the day, the Speed & Style challenged competitors on all fronts, with riders pushing through and throwing down amidst: wind, rain, delays, and competition from the best in the world. 

The last woman standing through it all? Harriet Burbidge-Smith.

“It was a mental battle, from pretty much yesterday morning ‘til now,” said Burbidge-Smith. “Are we riding, are we not riding. The wind’s good, the wind’s bad. The rain’s on, the rain’s off. It’s more wind again and people are crashing. It was gnarly.”

Finals were meant to run yesterday but were delayed due to the conditions.

“I think all the girls showed that [mental toughness] to be honest,” said the Australian women’s winner of what it took to keep at it today. “With it being such a new thing, Speed & Style for the women, that we’re battling through the wind and battling through crashes and everything like that. It’s hard to train for that. You have to kind of be in these moments a bunch of times to get better at it I guess. I’m happy that I got through the day.”

“I’m super stoked, but at the same I do feel for those girls,” she added of her fellow competitors whose days didn’t end as planned. “They’re some of my best friends and I’m just hoping they’re all good.”

The world’s eyes had been on local Rotorua rider Robin Goomes, who threw down the first backflip by a woman in competition at Crankworx Innsbruck earlier this year, and Caroline Buchanan, who made history with the first front flip by a woman at the Audi Nines competition this summer. Goomes crashed earlier in the day today and as a result didn’t secure a qualifying spot. Buchanan was climbing the ranks in finals, but went down on the first jump in her matchup against Vaea Verbeeck. 

Verbeeck would finish her day in second, with local rider Ronja-Hill Wright taking third.

Photos : Clint Trahan