Pink Bull Rampage is likely one of the hottest motion sports activities occasions below the model’s extremely encompassing umbrella. The addition of a girls’s occasion expanded the expertise on show and curiosity within the epic occasion in St. George, Utah, on October 10-12.
Scroll down for the faces and feats that outlined a brand new period in mountain biking.
Landmark Pink Bull Rampage
The weathered Pink Bull Rampage begin gate towers over Utah’s pink rock cliffs, a silent witness to motion sports activities historical past since 2001. Its iconic silhouette has graced numerous pictures, GIFs, and movies, recognizable even to these unfamiliar with freeride mountain biking.
In 2024, this picket sentinel noticed a seismic shift. For the primary time, prime feminine riders joined males in dropping into the daunting terrain beneath. This shattered boundaries and redefined chance on two wheels.
Now not only a landmark, the gate now stands as an emblem of progress and goals realized. Followers watched as a brand new chapter within the sport’s historical past unfolded. The occasion marked the evolution of freeride mountain biking earlier than everybody’s eyes.
First By way of the Gate
Girls’s sports activities are surging, with 2024 income anticipated to prime $1 billion for the primary time. Media protection of Rampage has tripled since 2021, fueling fast development. Now, mountain biking’s most progressive occasion is increasing its attain, welcoming feminine riders to its daring cliffs.
However how we obtained here’s a circuitous story. The ladies didn’t go by means of the gates of Pink Bull Rampage for the primary time with out the numerous sacrifice of many individuals.
Wrestle to Break New Floor
For years, riders like Chelsea Kimball and Casey Brown sculpted their very own traces within the filth, honing abilities and nurturing goals. Many set their sights on Pink Bull Rampage, but the choice course of remained a closed door.
As seasons handed, a query lingered. Would these athletes carve out their very own class or proceed vying to be the primary girl competing alongside males?
Lately, it grew to become clear. To face on their sport’s grandest stage, these pioneers must blaze their very own path.
Girls in Formation
In 2019, Katie Holden (pictured with the writer) and a military of co-conspirators got here collectively to attempt to capitalize on the groundswell of exercise in girls’s biking. It was evident that if Pink Bull Rampage was to ever broaden its program and create a class for ladies, it might require that the expertise pool deepen and widen considerably.
Enter Pink Bull Formation, a first-of-its-kind occasion. Formation was a development session on the dusty Southern Utah panorama. The objective was to extend the capabilities of the game’s prime feminine contributors and plant a flag within the dry filth for all to see.
Since that first yr, girls’s mountain biking has exploded. Occasions throughout the globe embrace the groundswell of hungry riders desirous to take part alongside their friends.
It was clear that 2024 was the yr to evolve freeride’s flagship occasion. It was time to let the ladies present what they had been able to, and so they didn’t disappoint.
Goomes Blazes Path
Robin Goomes was the primary girl to ever drop in at Pink Bull Rampage. In entrance of a sold-out crowd, with cameras rolling, Goomes descended the road she’d been engaged on along with her group for over every week.
Aboard a Barbie-themed Yeti SB 165, she completely set the tone for the runs to return.
Goomes crafted a line echoing Rampage’s early days: uncooked and difficult. Her route featured a rugged prime chute with rock cabinets and a 41-foot diagonal drop. Two trick jumps, one close to the highest and one other on the backside showcased her abilities.
Throughout follow, she hinted at her game-day technique, often throwing backflips. Astride her Barbie-themed bike, she joked about being “Backflip Barbie,” embracing her love for inverted methods.
Late Name-Up Takes Silver
Canadian Georgia Astle clinched second place with a exact, assured run at Pink Bull Rampage. Initially an alternate, Astle obtained the decision in September to hitch the ultimate roster, arriving in Utah primed to depart her mark.
A gravity specialist, Astle’s background spans World Cup downhill, Enduro World Collection, and Crankworx competitions. Off the race course, she honed her abilities on British Columbia’s steep traces and large drops.
Astle’s freeride journey accelerated in 2021. She joined Casey Brown’s dig group at Pink Bull Formation, collaborating as a rider the next yr.
Godmother of Freeride: Spirit Award
The Godmother of Freeride, Casey Brown, was sturdy in follow all through the week. Many in attendance had been sure she’d stand atop the rostrum on the finish of the day.
Her 16-year journey to Pink Bull Rampage started in 2008 when she first witnessed the occasion in Virgin, Utah. Brown has blazed a path as one of many first feminine freeriders, inspiring numerous girls to observe go well with. The Canadian’s composed demeanor throughout follow culminated within the first top-to-bottom run.
Brown’s standout function, the “Laundry Chute,” was a extremely uncovered rock roll drop. She described it as one of the vital difficult obstacles she’s confronted.
Synonymous with the occasion, giant roll-in or drop-in chutes play a big position within the success (or potential failure) of 1’s try to go dwelling with a win at Pink Bull Rampage.
Brown took dwelling the McGazza Spirit Award for her hard-charging run and contributions to the ladies’s freeride motion.
Guess Who? Goomes Will get Gold
When the mud settled on this historic day, it was Robin Goomes who stood atop the rostrum. Georgia Astle (second) and Casey Brown (third) had been alongside. This podium represents years of advocacy and development in girls’s freeride, with Brown, a longtime pioneer, realizing a 16-year dream.
The occasion was run on a brand new course alongside the boys’s competitors. This showcased the caliber of driving that earned these athletes their place on mountain biking’s most prestigious stage, ushering in a brand new period for the game.
If the groundswell of exercise within the final 5 years is any indication of ladies’s progress, we’re positive to see many extra vying for this coveted celebration in 2025 and past.
Wind Waylays Males’s Rampage
Quick-forward 48 hours, and it was time for the boys to push off the precipice and vie for his or her spot in historical past. However Mom Nature had different plans.
Pink Bull Rampage has a two-run format. So, every competitor will get an opportunity to refine his or her efficiency from the primary try. Nevertheless, the climate in Southern Utah might be brutal and unforgiving. Even a slight change within the breeze can jeopardize the entire day.
Godziek Goes Berserk
Earlier than the wind delayed the occasion by a number of hours, the anxious crowd was handled to a handful of hard-charging runs, and the venue was buzzing.
Poland’s Szymon Godziek despatched an enormous entrance flip on his first and solely run that day. It was adopted instantly by a backflip off the notorious “Worth is Proper” bounce after which a double backflip on his ultimate bounce.
His line this yr was extremely daring and artistic, sufficient to earn him first place within the early a part of the day. However there aren’t any ensures at Pink Bull Rampage, particularly with folks like Brandon Semenuk ready within the wings to throw down one other run.
Godziek was all smiles within the rider’s tent as he sat in first place, watching the remainder of the sector try and dislodge him from the rostrum.
Scary Second for Zink
Cam Zink is an absolute legend in freeride and one of the vital seasoned riders within the occasion’s historical past. There was quite a lot of anticipation for his runs that day.
Sadly, he took an enormous fall on the primary backflip of his run and was airlifted to St George Hospital. Zink later reported that he suffered six damaged ribs subsequent to his backbone and a collapsed lung. He acknowledged, “I’ll be OK,” on his private Instagram account.
Bronze-Profitable Flip
Earlier than the wind delay, Tom Van Steenbergen threw this huge entrance flip off of “The Worth is Proper,” sending it nicely into the runout of the touchdown. This trick, mixed with the unimaginable nature of his full run, would land him in third place earlier than the second runs would begin.
Outdated Venue, New Strains
Over the course of Pink Bull Rampage, many alternative venues have been used. For myriad causes, it typically returns to previous venues with the objective of rethinking and reinventing the panorama.
The final time riders noticed this venue was in 2019. Most of the previous traces had been nonetheless carved into the panorama when the groups began to dig in early October.
Tyler McCaul, a Pink Bull Rampage veteran who competed at this venue in 2018 and 2019, determined to chop a wholly new line within the sand with the objective of bettering his earlier outcomes.
The function that stood out on his line for this yr was this unimaginable step-down canyon hole, measuring over 70 toes from takeoff to touchdown.
The 2024 Pink Bull Rampage opened and closed with a efficiency by Brandon Semenuk in contrast to some other. On his first run, every part started clear and crisp. However a small mistake close to the underside throughout a backflip tailwhip despatched him to the bottom. Fortunately unhurt, he set his sights on run quantity two.
Semenuk’s rating on the primary run was ok to land him in third place. Nevertheless, his place precipitously slid as opponents pushed him down the scoreboard.
Earlier than he dropped in on run quantity two, he was sitting in a dismal 14th place.
A lot might be mentioned about Semenuk’s driving fashion and common stage of creativity in every part he does. The traces he builds at Pink Bull Rampage are iconic for his or her refined touches and chic building. Semenuk is the sort of man who ensures that every part he touches is clear and crisp, and his driving is not any completely different.
On the finish of a really lengthy day within the desert, with the occasional wind gust kissing the venue, Semenuk was the final one to drop in to try to reclaim his title. Completely greasing his line, the group nervously watched as he approached the drop that took him out in run one.
A simple flip-whip on the final drop sealed the deal, and as he cruised into the end corral. It was clear for all to see that he’d take dwelling the gold that day.
With the solar practically setting after an extremely lengthy day, Semenuk (first), Godziek (second), and McCaul (third) hoisted their trophies overhead in celebration into the windy sky. It was a becoming near a historic few days within the desert witnessing historical past.
Historic Rampage Seems Forward
One of the vital pleasant parts of the Pink Bull Rampage expertise is the followers. 1000’s from world wide flock to the small city of Virgin, Utah, annually to witness the spectacle. This yr’s occasion had a palpable amplitude to it among the many hoards of roving plenty all through the venue.
The extra I walked the venue, the extra satisfied I used to be that the enlargement of the occasion did extra than simply open a door for ladies to compete. The vibe all through each occasion days was full of life and inclusive. And, in fact, it shared a aggressive buzz as onlookers cheered for his or her favourite rider.
It was clear to all that the long run was vivid.
