Races come and go, it’s well known. But on the east coast, we’ve all been silently waiting for the return of Madison County Gravity Fest (MCGF), in Munnsville near Syracuse, New York. Last edition took place in 2008, 5 years ago and was the biggest event of east coast along with Top Challenge in Montreal (the last edition took place in 2007).

First of all, a big thank you to Neil Orta (Dr No) and all his crew of volunteers for the hard work, as well as the city of Munnsville and the Legion for the always warm welcome. This year took a special note as we lost some friends along the road. The usual parade was dedicated to those fallen. We all gathered in the crash corner at the end of the parade for a moment of silence. Rest in peace, you will be missed but never forgotten.

Photo : Khaleeq Alfred

The event took place over 3 days. Timed qualification took place on Friday and where run with the new RFID system. It was a rainy but perfect weather for Harfang Wheels to get out and prove their efficiency amongst lugers and downhill skateboarders. As planned, the riding stopped early in the afternoon and some massive drinking and fun took place, sending most of the riders to bed at an early hour (see video below).

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Next day was sunny and racing day for half the riders, the other half taking it easy or working on their line. The track had dramatically changed over the years, giving a new and interesting challenge to all riders : massive cracks took over the road from the top until just before the crash corner which had perfect asphalt. Riders were charging faster and faster every run, with unprecedented speeds during racing, giving spectators lots of action to cheer about. After so much riding, a bunch of us went to a nearby beach to swim and relax, then got back to the camp for a massive bonfire, good laughs, and again some drinking. Let’s say some of us Canadians enjoyed a bit too much Moonshine…

Sunday was the rest of racing, with lots of action in crash corner and the top lefty. Practice runs were still running one after the other and you could probably get over 50 runs during the 3 day event. The IGSA or IDF affiliation didn’t change anything of course, the success of such an event is all about the organization and not to much misfortune. Dr No’s events are always very well organized with plenty of runs, don’t miss the next one! Enjoy a raw run of the track with Harfang team rider Pier-Olivier POD Desmarais.

In an epic final battle, Aaron Hampshire took first,  Cam Brick 2nd and  Mike “Jakoop” Jakubiec 3rd in pro speedboard. Here is a sequence of the finals.

     

RESULTS (partial)

Junior 1
Bell, Tristan

Junior 2
Mulligan, Timothy

Junior 3
Dejaune, Jones
Déry, Louis-Philippe
Leduc, Vincent

Harfang team rider Vincent Leduc taking 3rd in junior. Congrats!

Novice Classic Luge
Orta, Chase
Eberhard, Joshua
Kiehn, Alex

Master DSB
Dabonka, Adam
Schroeder, Cyril
Boily, JF
Cholette, Jean-Michel

Pro Classic Luge
Williams, Frank
Crenshaw, Justin
McBride, Chris

Expert DSB
Martinez, Rolando
Davenport, Brian
Hopwood, Daniel

Pro DSB
Hampshire, Aaron
Brick, Cam
Jakubiec, Mike