Tracy Moseley heads for New Zealand

Rotorua will play host to numerous World Champions for the Crankworx Festival, but it’s not all fun and games for UK rider Tracy Moseley, as she sets out to kick off the defence of her 2014 EWS title after a season long battle with the legendary Ann Caroline Chausson.

Whilst she is best known for downhill racing, she has also raced cross-country and sees multi-stage Enduros as a perfect combination of the different mountain bike racing disciplines. “You need the skills and technical ability of downhill, just not to such a high level, and the fitness and ability to suffer like in cross-country, but, again, not at that level, too.” Adding that competitive Enduro is what many of us have been doing for the last 20 years for fun, “it’s just going back to how things were when we first started racing downhill on cross-country bikes.”

Escaping the cold and wet weather of her home country, Moseley is set to catch up with Men’s Enduro World Champion Jared Graves who will also be at the event, and Rotorua’s own Alden Arden, who designed the course for 2006 World Championship event.

Sticking with the Trek Factory Racing team again for 2015 will see Moseley move into her 7th year with the team which features the likes of Justin and Rene Wildhaber, and local rider Justin Leov amongst others.

Moseley will compete during the last weekend of the festival in the 2W Gravity Enduro event, before heading to Malborough for the New Zealand Enduro and then back to Rotorua for the first round of the Enduro World Series in March.

Find more information about the festival here, and how to volunteer here.

Image: Sterling Lorence