In an attempt to push trail riding to the next level and introduce riders to properly tough and technical trails, Daniel Dobinson and his team put together an Enduro event not yet seen in South Africa.
Five long and relentlessly rocky stages awaited the 47 strong field over the past weekend. Testing and pushing their bikes and personal abilities far beyond expectations. Naturally there were more than a few mechanicals and serious bails, but in the end everybody arrived back at the campsite, relatively unscathed, albeit physically and mentally exhausted.
Riders faced 38km of trails with 1,594 meters of climbing. Not unthinkable for a day’s pedal but when the equivalent of climbing Table Mountain is hike-a-bike, things start looking a bit different. With stages names such as Gimme Stitches, Brakedown, and Scorched Earth, it was always clear that things would be tough, but no one quite knew just how hard.
Daniel Dobinson
Meurant Botha
Gary Barnard
Carlos Marquez
Top 10 results:
1. Matt Lombardi – 25:10.318
2. Gary Barnard – 25:46.983
3. Oli Munnik – 26:23.415
4. Mark Hopkins – 26:33.394
5. Rene Damseaux – 26:51.288
6. Adi van der Merwe – 27:36.039
7. Julien Louw – 29:08.222
8. Jaco le Roux – 29:17.817
9. Andrew Savage – 29:42.546
10. Pieter Henning – 29:52.062
Another success story within this event was the custom timing app developed by Pieter Henning. An Android app, easy to operate with very limited user error potential, and no GSM coverage required, it worked a charm and hopefully thus put an end to the WC Enduro timing woes. Give that man a Bells!
A huge thanks goes out to Daniel and his team for putting together this event. To Pieter Henning for the timing app and Red Bull, Cape Brewing Co for sponsoring some music and beer. Lastly to Deon Malherbe for allowing us to ride on his land and the awesome trails he has made for us.
See you guys again next year…
Headshot, basically it started out as a 'mates race' then everyone got so excited by it that they invited their mates! Don't take it personally. We did not host it is an event anyway, there was a donation fee of R300 and ALL proceeds went towards the school farm. It was run as an invitational just to keep the field small so we could make sure everything ran smoothly without it costing an arm and a leg. Keep your ear to the ground and I'm sure you'll get to the next one.