Wanaka’s freeride resort held its annual banked slalom event over the weekend and the legendary New Zealand contest was lucky enough to get a perfect bluebird sky on the day as per usual.
Having ridden this event in the past, this author can testify that it is indeed a whole lot of fun. It runs down one of their many gulleys and is more about control and finesse than all out speed. It’s open to all so locals can quite often find themselves competing alongside visiting pros – in this case RK1‘s Aleks Østreng and local hero Christy Prior took part.
Ms Prior ended up taking the win for the ladies, whilst Richie Johnston and Nick Bourke took the men’s and master’s division titles respectively, as well as $750 each. Not bad for a day’s shredding.
