In the thick of it - Aus National Enduro Rd 1

The first Enduro National Championships were held to great success over the weekend, along the pristine Tropical North Queensland coast line. With home-base set up along the resort beach suburb of Palm Cove, riders had a 50 minute transit from under the palm trees along the beachfront to the Smithfield Mountain Bike Park.

With a field of over 100 riders, tourists were left somewhat bewildered at the site of fully decked out riders heading off the start ramp and down the main street in front of 5 star restaurants and resorts enroute to stage 1. With the first stage taking the same route as the prologue, it was a good indication to see who would come out fasted into the beginning legs of the race, and it was to no surprise that Chris Panozzo lead the charge by nearly 10 seconds over Cairns local Berend Boer.

Moving off the dry ridgeline of Stage 1, the course shifted to the western pocket of the Smithfield Mountain Bike Park, where Stage 2 took riders down the rollercoaster descent of Nationals. With a hefty transit climb to Stage 2, there was valid reason to make the call the night prior that juniors would not have to race this stage – instead they were tasked to head back up the same Stage 1 ridgeline to Stage 3 which descends the lower portion of the 2014/16 UCI World-Cup DH course.

Now into true rainforest trail, riders were given a thorough workout down the rut infested course with holes swallowing wheels and roots as tall as the riders. It was here another Cairns local – and the man responsible for a lot of work put into the trails being raced – Evan Winton managed to take out the stage win, with Berend Boer only 1 second off.

Stage 4 offered more natural, off camber lines down the old dis-used 1994/5 UCI World-Cup DH ridge line and into the lower sections of the Mountain Bike Park. Again it was Chris Panozzo taking the lead as riders turned around and hit the final, and biggest transit of the day – the climb to the 2014/16 UCI World-Cup DH course. Riders were hurting bad at this stage, as they came up on a total of 1100m of climbing over the 5 transits, coupled with another visit of the typical ‘tropical’ shower. But it was stage 5 that stole the show, and won the choice for favourite stage. Thanks to Cairns MTBC do-gooder and course co-ordinator; Craig Nissen and Co. the stage offered a vast mix of tight, sculpted switchbacks, the complete craziness that is the Rock-Gardern and Alien Tree when wet, extraordinarily fast old access roads and the best 500m of hand scratched single track in all Tropical North Queensland down to the last checkpoint of the course.

In the end, it was Chris Panozzo who claimed victory over Berend Boer with a margin of only 10 seconds of 16 minutes of racing. Cairns was also placed 4th on the Elite men’s podium via Evan Winton. In the Elite Females it was Emily Parkes who took the win just shy of 2 minutes in front of Jaclyn Schapel, with Cairns’ Jacinta Pink coming in at 4th. The juniors was hotly contested by the strong Cairns contingent but in the end it was Loic Ferry who claimed victory from Cairns’ prologue winner Behailu Green.

With the success of racing, the trails, the location, and the people who make the sport such a vibrant and proactive presence in the Australian scene – it can only be left to said this will not be the last time an event of this calibre once again returns to the Tropical playground of Cairns.