In front of more than 100,000 spectators, with about 20,000 gasping and cheering in Whistler and thousands more watching online on Saturday (Aug. 14), the 2010 edition of the Monster Energy Slopestyle delivered high drama with storylines of surprises, redemption and injury scares.

Cam Zink, the 24-year-old slopestyle star from Reno, Nev., hadn’t taken the top spot in a competition since he soared to victory in the marquee event of the Kokanee Crankworx festival in 2006. But Saturday saw Zink rise to the top again with a near-flawless run on a difficult course, taking home the $15,000 first prize with a run packed to the gills with stylish tricks.

“It feels amazing, especially for me because I won this event four years ago and I haven’t won an event since then, and I’ve just had so many injuries. The last time I won was the only time I’ve felt healthy,” Zink said after a joyful victory ceremony. “I’ve showed that I can do well when I’m healthy, and I feel better than ever.”

Zink had already earned a seat in the event’s Super Final with his first run of Saturday’s finals, where the 23 competitors had two runs to make it into the six-rider, one-run Super Final and the best score out of any of those runs would win. But he still took flight in his second run with no holds barred, flipping his way onto and off all the features and delivering his first successful front flip in competition on the so-called VW Booter.

“I felt like that jump was meant for me to front flip, because I do it different than most people… (The jump was) really long, and it’s very poppy. When I do a front flip I go really long; since it’s a long jump, it worked out,” Zink said.

Rising from 14th place in the 2009 edition of the industry’s landmark slopestyle event, San Diego’s Mike Montgomery claimed second place on the somewhat surprising podium, while leading stars like Whistler’s Brandon Semenuk and Qualicum Beach’s Darren Berrecloth were felled by falls after tricks off the course’s enormous final jump.

Berrecloth and Semenuk, the 2009 runner-up in the Whistler slopestyle event and winner of the 2010 Crankworx Colorado contest, laid down likely top-three runs liberally studded with stylish tricks, but took tough crashes as they tried tricks on the final Kokanee Booter feature and its 20-foot drop, right in front of the throng of thousands staring up from Skiers Plaza. Berrecloth later posted pictures of the X-rays of his broken hand and Semenuk’s broken collarbone to his Twitter account.

The string of injuries and crashes, including a second-run fall for France’s Yannick Granieri that left him unable to compete in the Super Final, have sparked debate online about the slopestyle course and the size of some of its features, alongside fan exultations over the excitement at the event.

“It was a little tricky,” Zink said of the course set in the Boneyard Slopestyle Park. “There were some changes at the beginning of the week that we had to make them make, otherwise it really wouldn’t have worked too well. But we ended up making some of the changes and it was a little weird, but we had to make it work at the end of the day.”

But on Saturday evening, the sweet smell of redemption was in the air, starting with Zink’s victory and first front flip in competition – his first attempt came on his first jump in last year’s Monster Energy Slopestyle, where he over-rotated and broke his foot.

Kelowna’s Casey Groves had a taste of it too. The 18-year-old was knocked unconscious in a crash in the 2008 edition of the event but delivered a massive second run to finish in third place this time around. The young rider had a smashing second run replete with smooth tailwhips and 360s, and the display netted him 89.5 points to put him into the Super Final and render him speechless with joy.

“I feel amazing right now. I came out here just to ride, just to get down the course – I wanted to get top 10, and to get podium at Crankworx being only 18 is unreal. It’s changed my life, my life is going to be totally different after this. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

Groves’s score stood up for third place overall, even though his chain broke on his final run after he started throwing out 360s. The joyful rider tore off the chain and tossed it into the crowd before he finished his run chainless and sailing straight over the giant last jump.

Zink’s second-run score of 95 points cemented his first-place finish, as the other riders in the Super Final couldn’t top that tally. So Zink got to savour the sweet sensation of a risk-free victory run where he pumped his arms and his bike to the crowd.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he said.

After finishing his second run with fists punching high in the air, and after receiving the score that catapulted him into the top six, the ecstatic Groves sprinted to the edge of the massive crowd to briefly rejoice with his parents.

“We were hugging before he even finished, I think,” father Graham Groves said of his and his wife’s reaction, laughing giddily.

It was a huge performance for a young rider who, in only his second competition ever, won the junior category at 2008’s inaugural Boneyard Air Affair in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and earned a berth in the Monster Energy Slopestyle that year.

New Zealand rider Kelly McGarry, who spends about a third of his year living in Whistler, finished fifth with a score of 83 from his strong first run.

Watts, Berrecloth top Trick Showdown

Berrecloth did took home something of a consolation prize, as he had already pocketed $3,000 by winning the second round of Thursday’s (Aug. 12) VW Trick Showdown. Berrecloth landed a switch 360 lookback, a graceful rotation with a breathtaking delay, off the Kokanee Booter.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time in competition. I was just stoked that I stomped it,” Berrecloth said after collecting his giant cheque. The day’s brisk winds created an extra challenge for riders attempting a 360 instead of a flip off the huge jump.

“That jump actually works really well for flips, because you just roll off the lip and lean back and pull, and you can spot your landing. With 360s… it’s more of an unnatural rotation so it just gives you that much more of a degree of difficulty and room for error,” Berrecloth said.

Greg Watts of Santa Cruz, Calif., also wasn’t leaving Whistler empty-handed even though he couldn’t defend his 2009 slopestyle title: He claimed the $3,000 prize in the first round of the trick throwdown with a jaw-dropping double tailwhip backflip on the VW Doubles course feature.

Watts said the Kokanee Booter jump was fun and tough to trick, and the challenge “pushes the sport to new levels.”