Organisers are thanking their lucky stars with the scheduling of the 2020 Crankworx Rotorua festival.

The brilliant week of outrageous skills and courage on display from the best mountain bike riders in the world took place in the first week of March – just before the coronavirus put a stop to international travel and staging major sporting events.

Thankfully the Rotorua event went ahead without incident and again showcased the spectacular action that is downhill mountain biking at the highest level.

Crankworx Rotorua was first staged in March 2015 and became the first Crankworx festival to be held outside of North America and Europe.

Each year the Rotorua festival kicks off the international competition season, bringing the best in the world to compete at the world class facilities at the Skyline Mountain Bike Park.

Crankworx festivals will hopefully follow this year in Innsbruck, Austria, in June and Whistler, Canada in August depending on coronavirus of course.

The Rotorua event included the cutest of them all, the Kidsworx grade for riders aged 6-12, which is a magnificent start for the future world champions of tomorrow.

Kidsworx gave the youngsters a chance to get out and ride alongside all their mountain biking idols.

There was plenty for the young riders to do in the special Kidsworx Arena including coaching, taking part in scavenger hunts around the site or taking part in the Kidsworx riding events out on the trails.

The race for King and Queen of Crankworx is always a highlight with the best male and female riders over the three Crankworx events winning the coveted awards.

It's a multidisciplinary challenge that awards points across events and disciplines over the three Crankworx festivals.

Defending champion Sam Blenkinsop from Whanganui is well placed after Rotorua in third place just behind leader Bas Van-Steenburgen from Canada and second-placed Kyle Strait from the USA.

In the women's race Jill Kintner (USA) leads from Vaea Verbeek (Canada) and Jordan Scott (USA) with Tauranga's Shania Rawson the best placed Kiwi in seventh spot.