The landscape has changed. The word enduro is
no longer associated with the endurance cross
country world. Instead, it bridges the divide
between downhill and trail, not to mention
creating an all new identity of its own as a do-it-
all, approachable event. Stemming from events
such as Italy’s SuperEnduro series, has come
a new world championship series, the Enduro
World Series. Spread across six countries with
seven events, it was created outside the bounds
of UCI ownership. It is not the first organisation to
do this, although it is the strongest in many years
of such a nature, and in doing so has crowned
itself chief of all such events in the world. Enduro
is riding a wave of success there is no question,
but what does it mean for the Australian scene, a
small scene already suffering under the diversity
of riding events available?This enduro movement did not take long to filter
to local shores, where event organisers were
quick to realise the potential. Events such as
the Alpine Gravity Enduro Series, Rocky Trail
Entertainment’s Fox Rollercoaster series, SEQ
series and numerous State level events have
appeared throughout the nation. Following in
the vein of the World Enduro Series before them,
these organisers banded together to create
Australia’s first national platform Gravity Enduro
Series. A turn away from shuttle access races and
toward the classic stage and transition format of
the classic Italian races like the SuperEnduro
.It stood in defiance of Mountain Biking Australia
(MTBA) yet it became one of the most successful
national level series in many years over any
discipline, unaffiliated or not. With the new year
upon us and the news of the series turnover to be
the control of MTBA we sat down with a few key
riders from last series, to discuss why they race,
the Nationals and the politics.If you ask a racer why they were attracted to
enduro, you will often find the answer all too
familiar, “it’s the thrill of responding on the fly to
super tech trails that you haven’t had too much
time to practice.” says Kath Bicknell, fifth overall
in the Australian Gravity series, whilst for many
like Ryan De La Rue and Simon Buzzacott:“It’s a day out on the bike with your mates
shredding the rad parts as hard as you can“.Track choice was a leading case in many riders
approach to the enduro National series and for
many it is what drew them to the series in the
first place, ‘I’ve avoided racing XC National rounds
in unfamiliar locations before as it can be a bit
of a lottery and given the emphasis of enduro
is on sweet (mostly) descents with likeminded
people, I treated the series as a bit like a guided
holiday” adds Bicknell before continuing “I used
to enjoy riding my XC bike down downhill trails
and wonder why this kind of stuff was never in the
types of races I enjoyed!”For De La Rue, enduro offered the best of both
worlds “I used to race DH a lot but was drawn to
enduro because of the riding style. It’s hard to
ride downhill Australia and it takes a lot of effort
to organise shuttle”, it’s simply the best of both
worlds.Enduro is quite often attributed with attracting
new faces to the sport and while that is true, as
we can see above this isn’t always the case. From
the Nationals races I did attend there were plenty
of faces I recognised - they were just in a new
place. Riders that were regularly at cross country
events and downhill events were filling the ranks
of the Enduro field. A harmonious gathering - but
what is drawing them together?“It’s just a really fun style of racing” Says De La
Rue, sentiment that is felt strongly amongst the
others. “A whole bunch of people competed in
the first series who have been racing bikes for
years but wanted challenges that other formats of
racing weren’t providing anymore.” adds Bicknell.It is this lighthearted format and attitude to racing
that has attracted fuller female fields, in fact the
women’s field that started the Australian Gravity
Series remained mostly intact for every round.
“It’s great to hang out with other girls who thrive
on more technical riding and to see different time
gaps open up on different types of trails. We’re all
finding it really motivating trying to get smoother,
faster and more consistent“ says Bicknell“Right now, you can enjoy enduro without getting
too serious about every element of it. When that
stops, the atmosphere will change and you’ll see
a different group of riders fronting up to the start
line,” Bicknell says of the future of the sport in
Australia.It’s true with more and more sponsorship coming
into the frame, things will change and with mass
participation style events such as marathon
racing appearing to be in decline, riders will
look elsewhere for a new thrill. It is likely we
will see more and more riders at enduro events
and an all new hierarchy emerging. Already
we are beginning to see the effects of this with
homegrown riders like Dan MacMunn, the series
winner (featured in issue 145) and Michael
Ronning heading overseas to compete. In recent
days an all new Australian Enduro squad has
emerged, nicknamed DERT (Downunder Enduro
Race Team) and it is solely for athletes aspiring to
ride in the EWS.In an equally interesting move MTBA, the
governing mountain bike body in Australia, has
just released a new National Gravity Enduro
series, something that stands in contrast to the
international body the UCI. When we asked the
athletes of the past series what they thought of
this, it was to mixed reviews.“The 2014 season was run really well. The mix of
venues was awesome and the organisers did a
really good job making the series happen. I hope
MTBA can keep the good times rolling” we were
told by Ryan De La Rue.The arrival of the MTBA series sees the Australian
Gravity series disband, the organisers slipping
away to their own series having clearly achieved
their goals. In a way signalling the end of the
grassroots movement. Enduro is no longer in the
shadows of Australian mountain biking, the only
question is what will this new era bring.As enduro enters its Adolescent yeArs, we hAve A look At the stAte of the union. we Ask some of the
fAstest enduro Athletes in AustrAliA for their views on whAt’s been Achieved, where is enduro heAded
next And whAt’s on the horizon?THE CHANGING FACE
OF ENDURO WoRDS : RoBERT CoNRoy
http://www.ambmag.com.au - 29