Slopestyle wizardry in Rotorua
After nearly five years marketing the biggest, baddest, most outrageously fun mountain bike festival series on the planet, I’m hanging up my helmet. It’s with a heavy heart and an open mind that I step down from my role as Marketing Manager for the Crankworx World Tour and get ready for my next challenge.
The best feeling of any festival: Sunday. We survived.
Working on the Crankworx series has taught me so many things. I’ve discovered the nuances of a niche industry. I’ve tapped into understanding how I work as a professional under pressure. It’s actually quite challenging to distil everything that I’d like to pack up and take with me throughout my career. But I’ll give it a go:
Only bring solutions to the table. After my first season, our GM Darren Kinnaird sat me down for my review and encouraged me to be bold. Take more ownership. To come to the table with solutions and not problems. At the time I was taking the leap from strategist to manager. The change in title wasn’t just about pay grades and work back schedules. It was about becoming a leader.
Humbled by the Crankworx Whistler crowds in the Slopestyle start gate.
How you handle lost baggage says a lot about you. The connecting flight between Frankfurt and Innsbruck is notoriously unrealistic. Every season we’d either miss it or our bags wouldn’t arrive. My first season, a handful of us went to watch a World Cup before Crankworx Innsbruck and found ourselves with nothing but the clothes on our back to make it through the weekend. I remember hearing the news from the baggage agent that we wouldn’t have our luggage. Hot tears welled up in the corners of my eyes. We had a few short days to enjoy Austria before the long days of festival life crept in. All of my beloved running, biking and swimming gear was now floating around in lost bag land. I watched the other members of my team (Julia, Steve and Jimmi) rise to the occasion, laugh it off and make a plan B. It was inspiring. It was about striving to be flexible and not take ourselves too seriously.
Work perks: Crankworx Innsbruck staff accommodations.
Do the right thing. Women in sport. Reducing waste. Getting kids on bikes. An industry marketing conference aimed at levelling the playing field (WhistlerBike). None of these things were required to make Crankworx a success but they make the cycling world a better place. Working on these projects made my time at Crankworx both dimensional and meaningful.
Crowd’s eye view of Speed & Style in Innsbruck
The hours were long but I have to pinch myself when I look back on the opportunities we had as a team. Some of my favourite moments with the Tour included:
Standing in the finish corral when Nicholi Rogatkin won the coveted Triple Crown of Slopestyle in Whistler. 50,000+ people went nuts.
While encamped in the Dolomites with a few team members before Crankworx Innsbruck, I ran an off-road half marathon on a whim. No one spoke english. But the route, finish line lunch and participant swag bags were all delightful.
Body surfing on New Zealand’s East Coast with our Athlete Manager Lauren and some of my favourite members of our production team after Crankworx Rotorua 2020 (a week before the global pandemic hit).
2.3K of open water swim training in a man-made pond intended for kids in Les Gets, France.
Getting those early morning ride invites to explore unsanctioned trails in Innsbruck and Rotorua.
Responding to the call that echoed through management radios across the Crankworx Rotorua venue in 2018: “Team to the ‘War Room’”. I ran through the sheets of rain, weaving around a sea of spectators. Adrenaline, worry and excitement at its best.
Participating in the incredibly beautiful Powhiri, an annual opening ceremony that welcomes the World Tour back to Rotorua each season .
I’m incredibly honoured and humbled. The MTB community has been like family. I’ll certainly miss all of our teams, volunteers, photographers, producers and dream makers. To all of you, thank you. I’ll be waving wildly from the spectator zone. On to new things in new places!
