LACONDEGUY TAKES HOME $15,000 FOR TOP SPOT IN MONSTER ENERGY SLOPESTYLE @ KOKANEE CRANKWORX 2008

WHISTLER, BC, August 16, 2008
Every year this event draws the biggest crowdof the festival, watching the best athletes in the world of mountain
biking compete for $30,000 in prize money.

KONA team rider Andreu Lacondeguy of Spain took top spot and $15,000 in
the finals with a score of 94.3; second place and $8,000 went to Lance
Mcdermott of the UK with a score of 91.5; third place went to Whistler’s
own Brandon Semenuk, walking away with $4,500 and a score of 89.8. All
the riders in the top eight took home cash for their amazing efforts
today.

Lacondeguy’s winning run consisted of a long list of impressive tricks.
He started out with a double back flip off the first table, a trick that
has never been seen before in competition. He followed that up with a
foot plant off the Monster Snake, a back flip X-up, flat spin 360,
topside nac-nac, can-can step-down, superman, and finished off with a
back flip onto the final Kokanee feature and superman off into the
village.

“I just kept trying the double back flip,” says Lancondeguy. “It was
that trick that did the job, it was gnarly you know.”

This year’s Slopestyle course was designed by John Cowan and as usual the course was nothing but perfect. With huge tables, dirt jumps, wooden spins, the Giro box and the always insane Kokanee drop as the last
feature, the riders had their choice of line to impress the judges in the two-run format to advance to the eight man final.
“Slopestyle contests are about the all around impression, and all the
guys in the finals had clean smooth runs,” says Head Judge Colin Duncan.
With tricks like the double back flip, back flip tail whip and the back
flip up onto the Kokanee box and a front flip off, it was an incredibly
tough contest to judge. In the end, Lacondeguy’s stylish run, and the
insane double back flip, just won out.”