The 2025 men's Garbanzo Downhill (DH) followed a familiar script: Richie Rude victorious, Ryan Gilchrist in second.
Rude dominated this time around (12:08.870) with a notable gap between him, his Yeti teammate Gilchrist (12:22.733), and Luke Meier-Smith who backed up his OG Canadian Open DH win with a third-place effort (12:24.283). Tegan Cruz hustled to fourth (12:37.197) after a demoralizing crash in the OG DH.
Yet the hierarchy of power among female Garbo riders changed Monday evening, with Aletha Ostgaard (14:05.149) halting Georgia Astle's undefeated streak at three. It's quite a coup for Ostgaard, the young American who took U17 Garbanzo gold just last summer.
Perennially popular with her fellow locals, Astle salvaged silver (14:18.117) in commanding fashion over bronze medallist Emmy Lan (14:40.434) and the rest of the elite women's field.
"Garbo to me is a really fun race and kind of a special one," Rude said. "These long stages here in Whistler, I've had a good run of them in the past. I was a little nervous coming to this Garbo because I haven't done a ton of races in the past couple weeks. Hard to decide between the enduro and the downhill bike for this one, but I had a lot of fun on it, and it's really cool to do two in a row."
"I just had fun riding my bike. I think that was the main part," commented Ostgaard. "If I wasn't having fun, it wouldn't be a good achievement. It's such a physical course so it feels good to take a person that's gone back to back on it, but that's racing. [Georgia] will probably come back harder, and we've got to give it another shot."
'She's going to win'
Ostgaard is still a junior on the World Cup circuit, where she put together four straight podium appearances (two silver, two gold) heading into Crankworx Whistler. The 17-year-old also notched a runner-up outing at U.S. Nationals in Big Bear Lake, Calif. and is more or less red-hot every time she enters a starting gate.
Displaying poise beyond her age, Ostgaard elected to use her downhill bike after winning on an enduro bike in 2024. She maintained a sustainable pace through the venue's technical upper sections, conserving energy with which to pedal hard across the finish line.
Astle was one of many to take notice.
"As soon as I saw how [Ostgaard] rode, knowing that she doesn't ride the bike park often, it's like a whole new ball game," remarked the Whistlerite. "The up-and-coming girls are so insanely talented and switched on. As soon as I saw her ride past me in practice, I was like: 'okay, she's going to win,' but I will happily take second place to her."
Now a dedicated disciple of freeride, Astle won silver at last year's Red Bull Rampage and has pre-qualified for the next one in October. She hasn't practiced much downhill since 2024's Garbanzo event, but made sure to ready herself by chugging "four litres" of water, taking a bath in Fitzsimmons Creek and enjoying some gummy bears as she reminded herself to breathe on a sweltering 30-degree day.
"It's kind of nerve-wracking, not knowing when or how you're going to tap into that different race pace—but I felt really good up there," Astle said. "I was floating, going way faster than in practice but still somewhat in control. That's what I miss the most about racing and I'm stoked that I get to have another taste of it at Garbo.
"Once I made my suspension work like how a downhill bike should feel plush, my shoulders stopped hurting. I think riding stiff freeride suspension has been not bad for upper body training and oh my God, it felt so good once I put clips on. It felt just like how I used to always ride the bike park."
Practice and preparation
When asked why Rude is so hard to defeat, Gilchrist called him one of the best gravity racers of all time.
Rude may have a case for being the enduro G.O.A.T., with four Enduro World Cup (EDR) overall titles and 22 medals under his belt. He eats long stages for breakfast and has won in Whistler by titanic margins before, so Gilchrist feels honoured to even approach the Connecticut native's orbit.
To train with such a man is invaluable.
"We were talking about this with Richie on the chairlift up: we really should do a voice note of all the little things that you forget after a lap around the sun," Gilchrist said. "You can watch a GoPro and get all your lines, but what did I eat before? How many milligrams of caffeine are in the system? I think preparation is a huge thing and we definitely prepared the best. Richie's done more laps of Whistler in a winning position than anybody else in the world."
Now with 984 King of Crankworx points, Gilchrist inflates his lead on Jackson Frew who placed sixth (734), and Cruz (711). Despite such a leg up, the Australian still stares at the ceiling at night wondering what could happen next. His rivals are true professionals—and he's nursing an injured wrist.
"It's really good considering I broke my wrist into many, many pieces [in Cairns]…the timeline I had to get it back up and running is about a month shorter than what any physio would happily have," revealed Gilchrist. "Slalom and pump track, if done properly, can be really smooth. Garbanzo, you can't do it smoothly…definitely not letting my guard down until that check's in my hand."
An honourable mention goes out to Cruz, who was disappointed in finishing 16th at the OG DH but resolved to bounce back for his hometown supporters. He lauded Gilchrist and Frew, calling it "an honour to be in the battle" with them.
"There's no fitter guys ahead of me in that results sheet, so that makes me feel really good," Cruz said. "Those boys are really impressive and it's one of the hardest races of the year, if not the hardest 12-and-a-half minutes of my life. You give everything you've got, and then a little more."
Nothing dramatic transpired in the Queen of Crankworx overall, with leader Jordy Scott (804) pulling up 12th to remain ahead of last-place Sabina Košárková (618) and Caroline Buchanan, who has yet to compete this week (585).
For more details, visit https://www.crankworx.com/results/.
