{"id":8991,"date":"2023-05-19T14:05:45","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/43ride.com\/en\/?p=8991"},"modified":"2025-10-21T11:26:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T09:26:59","slug":"burbidge-smith-with-double-gold-gilchrist-takes-home-first-crankworx-cairns-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/43ride.com\/en\/events\/2023\/burbidge-smith-with-double-gold-gilchrist-takes-home-first-crankworx-cairns-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Burbidge-Smith with double gold & Gilchrist takes home first Crankworx Cairns win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the third day in a row the vibes were off the charts amongst an especially raucous and rowdy crowd in Cairns. And for good reason, as the Aussies dominated on home soil with Ryan Gilchrist and Harriet Burbidge-Smith leading the charge down the hyper-quick and feature-rich course. The hard-packed \u201cmoondust\u201d proved to be just the right consistency for riders to blitz through the technical combination of hits, twists and turns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crankworx Cairns Dual Slalom snake \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gilchrist, an engineering student, designed the perfect path to victory as he stayed calm, collected and laser-focused on the task ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My strategy today was to go as fast as possible from top to bottom. I take it one race at a time and try not to get too spooked out by the magnitude of the situation as this is as good as it gets.<\/p>Ryan Gilchrist<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Ryan Gilchrist \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite racing against one of the best in the sport, the Aussie phenom allowed himself to feel the nerves but not be overcome by the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a little bit nervous up there because Bas van Steenbergen is such a well established athlete and he\u2019s been at the top for so long and is the King of Crankworx for a reason. It is really special racing against him, and it was definitely nice to be at the gate with him, having proper, genuine conversation before we dropped in.<\/p>Ryan Gilchrist<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hard fought victory was regarded by the broadcast team as a potential passing of the torch from Aussie legend, Yeti teammate and the defending Crankworx Cairns Dual Slalom Champion, \u201cSik\u201d Mick Hannah. The newly crowned champ was quick to credit Hannah for inspiration in his recent success, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Niels Bensink vs Tuhoto-Ariki Pene \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mick is a teammate who turned into fine mentor and somebody I\u2019ve looked up to my entire riding life. To be able to call him a teammate and have him in my corner giving me advice and insight has been absolutely amazing.<\/p>Ryan Gilchrist<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the second day (and event) in a row as Harriet \u201cHaz\u201d Burbidge-Smith reached the top step in Cairns. These consecutive wins give Haz a significant boost in the overall standings, placing her just 20 points back of second place and less than 100 points off of the top spot held by defending champ Caroline Buchanan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harriet Burbidge-Smith \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barely rested and recovered from her Speed & Style victory yesterday, Haz was her cool, humble self after claiming her second gold medal in as many days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling pretty good and stoked to perform how I wanted to. It was one lap at a time this week and it has worked out well.<\/p>Harriet Burbidge-Smith<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite banking another huge win and collecting valuable Crankworx overall points, Haz is doing her best to live in the moment and take stock of the little things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I\u2019m not thinking about the overall, I\u2019m just focusing on what I love this year\u2014which is freeride and doing the events I enjoy. Obviously, it\u2019s sick that I\u2019m doing well in the overall, and I\u2019m still going to be at all the stops. But I\u2019m just having a blast, so we\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>Harriet Burbidge-Smith<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Similar to her fellow Aussie champion, Gilchrist, Haz kept the game plan simple and to the point heading into the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My strategy going out there today was don\u2019t over think it but remember those little bits of the course that I needed to and when I made mistakes I remembered what I did and fixed it the next run. I almost slowed it down in that top section and tried to smooth out everything. I tried to get the pedals where I wanted to get the manuals on the techy stuff and on the flags I was trying to be fast but safe, because I saw so many people miss.<\/p>Harriet Burbidge-Smith<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Martha Gill vs Jenna Hastings \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The result may have been what Haz wanted, but she admits it didn\u2019t come about in the way she was hoping. Her competitor and good pal, Martha Gill washed out in the lower half of the course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously it still sucks for it to go down like that. It doesn\u2019t feel great when a mate goes down, but I\u2019m stoked she\u2019s okay.<\/p>Harriet Burbidge-Smith<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the finals certainly didn\u2019t pan out the way Martha Gill drew them up, she was able to offer up her trademark positivity as she saw the \u2018silver\u2019 lining in the unfortunate crash and result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m stoked for second this is actually my first podium I\u2019ve got at Crankworx outside of Rotorua. That was a goal of mine for this year, so I\u2019m stoked to tick that off.<\/p>Martha Gill<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The blazing fast Brit\u2019s excitement was palpable in reaching her first Aussie podium, but offered some insight into what went wrong just a few short turns from the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was tough racing against Caroline, so I was super pumped to get through into the gold medal final. But ya I was stoked with that and then probably just pushed a bit too hard against Haz. She was in front and I was trying to catch up and I think I just went a bit too inside on the berm and washed out and wrecked myself.<\/p>Martha Gill<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Sam Blenkinsop \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keen to build off the momentum of his career best 2nd place in Speed & Style yesterday, Bas van Steenbergen looked smooth and fast throughout the day in his signature event. However, the top step eluded the reigning King of Crankworx as an unfortunate error proved costly through the final few gates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s bittersweet, I definitely wanted that win really bad. I was trying to just kind of play it safe, but when you\u2019re pushing that hard you can make one little mistake and it can cost you a lot.<\/p>Bas van Steenbergen<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The podium was rounded out by 2023 King\/Queen of Crankworx contenders, Tuhoto-Ariki Pene and Caroline Buchanan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pene closed out his day with a tightly contested showdown with one of the consistently fastest riders on the day, Aussie standout Jackson Frew. But, after Frew made contact with the final gate in Run 1, costing him valuable time, the race was Pene\u2019s to lose. While Frew made a valiant effort to close the gap, the untimely error proved to be too much as Pene edged out Frew by 0.1 of a second to claim the Bronze medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After putting down solid runs throughout the day, the reigning Queen of Crankworx Champion (and current leader) was relegated to the bronze medal match after losing a razor close battle to Martha Gill by 0.3 of a second. However, Buchanan proved why she is the woman to beat this year as she dug deep and eeked out the win over Kiwi crowd-favourite, Jenna Hastings, by virtually the same margin that saw her defeated by Gill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results:<\/strong> Dual Slalom Cairns<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Ryan Gilchrist (AUS) \/\/ Harriet Burbidge-Smith (AUS)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Bas van Steenbergen (CAN) \/\/ Martha Gill (GBR)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Tuhoto-Ariki Pene (NZL) \/\/ Caroline Buchanan (AUS)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Crankworx Cairns Dual Slalom podium \/ photo: Clint Trahan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Full results: crankworx.com\/results\/<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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