The most popular spectator event of the Queenstown Bike Festival was again the Teva Slopestyle, which this year attracted a record 4000 people to the Ballarat St car park.
Queenstown's bike enthusiasts, as well as those who just appreciate talent when they see it, gathered on Thursday night to watch more than 20 international riders from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the US contest $10,000 in cash and prizes.
Queenstown Bike Festival organiser Geoff Hunt said the event would be back next year for the third time, with new course aspects that were already being worked on by course designer Tom Hey, of the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club.
Because of its 2012 success, the Teva Slopestyle event has been added to the international Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour. The FMB points now on offer attracted more first-class riders and quality riding, Mr Hunt said.
With big money available as well as the FMB points, the quality of the field and the riding was better than ever. British rider Sam Pilgrim eclipsed the rest of the field by linking together a technical and flawless run. The 23-year-old was a crowd favourite, constantly drawing cheers from the audience.
''He was a standout athlete on every run and any one of his runs would have won him the final,'' Mr Hunt said.
Czech Thomas Zejda gained second place, while local boy Conor MacFarlane grabbed third place.
BMX legend turned mountain bike rider Chad Kagy came in fourth and Sam Dueck was fifth. Dueck earned best trick of the night with his double tail-whip 360.
