Darkfest 2022 – Another One for the History Books

A new chapter for Freeride MTB has been carved into the history books as the sixth year of Darkfest comes to a close. The boundary-pushing event saw 90-foot jumps from the ladies, Cali Rolls and Double Flips from the gents, and a whole heap of Darkfest best moments.

The 2022 edition saw the biggest group of international Freeriders join the roster. With the course tweaked to perfection, rider’s excitement was at an all-time high as they opened the course.

Sam Reynolds

Robin Goomes and Casey Brown opened up the 90-foot goliath jump and cemented their place firmly in the history books by landing the longest dirt-to-dirt jump ever ridden by a female Mountain Biker.

Casey Brown
Robin Goomes

Another historic event took place when Chelsea Kimball successfully opened up the Rocket Launchers at the end of the course for the ladies. The globally recognised jumps propel riders into the air with the most amplitude and airtime of any jumps in the world. Closely followed by Hannah Bergemann and Vero Sandler, the full complement of ladies attacked the highest and longest jumps ever ridden by female Freeriders.

Chelsea Kimball
Vero Sandler

The guys have been throwing down insane airs and huge tricks, but what’s surprised and excited me the most was the ladies hitting the world’s biggest jumps.. changing the game in front of our eyes! The guys and girls have all been working together to really push Freeride into the next level! ”
– Sam Reynolds, Darkfest host and creator

There were countless other headlines from a week of unforgettable riding and tricks. Redemption Double Backflips from Adolf Silva on the Rocket Launcher, which had taken him out and smashed his wrist into multiple fractures in 2021. Bienvenido Aguado pulled an outrageous Backflip Can-Can on the 90-footer, which he famously threw the world record Frontflip over in the previous year, and Vero Sandler landed a Nothing on the Step-Up.

Adolf Silva
Bienvenido Aguado
Kaos Seagrave
Tom Isted
Sam Hodgson