Cam Zink and Tom van Steenbergen Go 1-2 at Rampage

Another big win for the legend! Monster Energy congratulates team rider Cam Zink on taking first place in the 2023 Rampage mountain bike competition in Utah. In the ‘gnarliest’ freeride mountain bike contest of the year, on big mountain terrain, the 37-year-old from Reno, Nevada, put down a perfect run to claim his second career win in the event.

Also rising to the podium in Utah, 27-year-old Tom van Steenbergen from Kelowna, Canada, stomped a perfect run to claim second place, an amazing feat considering he had a nasty accident a few years ago resulting in a broken femur, broken rib, and punctured lung.

On October 13, the annual Rampage event brought 17 of the world’s top freeride mountain bike athletes to the dusty hillsides of Virgin, Utah. The 2023 edition of Rampage will be the 17th time the iconic mountain bike event has run. Rampage challenges riders to the core with a grueling course set-up featuring massive natural drops and large-scale jumps. At the same time, the riders must impress the judges by landing mind-blowing tricks while carving a line down the challenging mountain.

In the final, Monster Energy’s Zink dropped in looking for his second win in the competition after taking first place back in 2010. Hitting the steep course with confidence and precise lines, Zink put down a scorching run featuring a nose bonk drop-in, backflip nac, massive backflip on the big Oakley Sender obstacle, nac air, and clean 360 down the drop. With a high score of 95.00 points, the American took home his second win in the prestigious competition.

“I show up with a positive winning mindset year after year; I know I’m going to win. Nothing has changed in 13 years of heartbreak along with perseverance since my last win in 2010,” said Zink. “I can’t believe it, but at the same time, I’ve always believed I had it.”

“After coming up short in my first run, I wasn’t sure I would get the opportunity to have a wind-free second run. Although I didn’t get to build off of a first-run score.  I had more tricks in the bag, but had to scale it back enough to ensure a winning yet safe run. I feel incredibly fortunate to be living my wildest dreams.”

Zink is known as a boundary-pushing MTB athlete. At age 16, he won the Junior National Championship in dual slalom. After making the switch to professional freeride mountain biking, he proceeded to win every important contest on the circuit and has pushed the sport’s evolution with moves like the 100-foot backflip on Mammoth Mountain for an official Guinness Book World Record.

Also taking a podium spot in Utah, 27-year-old van Steenbergen from Kelowna, Canada, showed nerves in the high-stakes event. His highest-scoring run included a huge Caveman Air drop-in at the top, clean flat drop 360, and backflip the big drop for 89.00 points and second place.

Another team rider turned heads in Utah this weekend: 35-year-old Brendan Fairclough from Guildford, United Kingdom, stoked the crowd by choosing the burliest lines and throwing down some of the biggest tricks of the day. He was one of few riders to tackle a crumbling rock feature dubbed ‘The Battleship’ and also hit the biggest canyon gap with a no-hander. When all was said and done, Fairclough finished a hair’s breadth off the top three with 86.66 points for fourth place.