Australian Enduro Championships - The Prologue

The first annual MTBA Enduro National Championships got underway today with the Prologue stage setting riders seeding position for Sunday race day. Coming all the way up to Tropical North Queensland for the first run of these new titles, the Cairns locals were sure to be heard, making up a fair number of the field of competitors through all categories.

With base set up along the picture perfect Palm Cove Esplanade, riders drew together for the briefing before rolling out of the start gate through the palm trees and onwards to the Smithfield Mountain Bike Park. Sunny skies were keeping things warm and bright as the first riders set off, only to abruptly transform into a typical, ‘tropical’ downpour in a matter of minutes turning everything into a palette of greys.

The prologue stage would run down Stage 1 of the course, and luckily it being a dryer, more open ridgeline in the Mountain Bike Park – it was bone dry by the time Chris Panozzo left the gate at the start of the field. The stage takes riders down a more old school descent in comparison to the majority of trails in the park, with plenty of natural, off cambers, blind drops and uneven ground along an exposed ridgeline dropping off to the Coral Sea. The locals have their advantage in knowing where the thousands of pedal catching time bombs are stashed – and it showed in the top 5 Elite Men qualifiers, with only 5 seconds separating the top 5, and two Cairns locals coming in 2nd and 4th via Berend Boer and Evan Winton Respectively.

Elite Female saw only 3 competitors roll out of the prologue start with Emily Sparks setting a rather healthy gap of nearly 20 seconds of 2nd place qualifier Jaclyn Schapel with a 0:4:52min.

The younger cohort of competitors made up nearly an entire half of the field between Juniors, Under 17 and Under 15 – and of them, a large number being the newest breed of racers coming through the ranks of the Cairns Mountain Bike scene. Behailu Green set an impressive lead taking out the stage in 0:4:12, only 10 seconds off Elite Mens 1st qualifier Chris Panozzo.

Riders will no doubt revel in the added practice used for taking the prologue as they gear up to take on the full course for race day, and the relentless transits, heat and humidity as they move through the rainforest hills of the Smithfield Mountain Bike Park for the first ever Enduro National Championships. With 3.5 hours set to complete the 5 stages, considering a total race time or roughly 20 minutes – you can’t help but feel sorry for the racers. The trails are tough, but the transits may be the final doing for the un-prepared. Stay tuned to see who comes out on top.