Last year enduro riders from across the globe descended on the trail mecca of Rotorua, New Zealand for the first Enduro World Series event to be held in the region. This year the EWS took a break from New Zealand and a local enduro was put on as part of the 2016 Crankworx Rotorua festival.
With a strong focus put on showcasing Rotorua's hardest trails last year, this year came as a welcome relief to those who found last years trail mix a tad on the challenging side. Rotorua is famous within New Zealand for its classic trails, many of which can be found under the towering tree canopies. So it only made sense to expose the international riders to the very trails that have helped make it famous in the first place. With a diverse mix of steep, natural, blown out and pedally trails to test even the strongest of the worlds best enduro riders, this was by no means a walk in the park...
As of the end of stage 4, Carl Jones was up by 7.79 seconds over Matt Walker, followed by Brook Macdonlad in third, +9.26 behind Jones.
K2 was the hardest stage in the Whakawerawera forest. An old grade 5 listed trail that has since been logged. It is now a steep, blown trail in the open with a lot of exposure.
Riders spent close to 6 hours in the saddle today and in the hight of the NZ Summer, any shade was a treat when waiting to drop in between stages.
Riders then got shuttled across town to Skyline Mountain Bike Park to race the final stage of the day. This started from the same point as the downhill and continues through the old 2006 World Cup DH course. Once it exits the natural trails at Skyline, riders then continue down Sprint Warrior to finish in the main arena.
| I agree that the local riders have the best chance today, Carl is riding amazingly well at the moment, but you can't rule out the strong downhill boys like Blenki and Brook.Then there is Josh Carlson who just attacks everywhere. Anneke should have it over Rae, she's in the best form I've ever seen her in - Wyn Masters, GT Factory Racing |
Results: pinkbike.com/news/crankworx-rotorua-giant-toa-enduro-results
MENTIONS: @officialcrankworx / @GiantBicycle / @parisgore / @cameronmackenzie
You wanna be the best at exercise - get pedaling!
Why not just make 'em all run wind-sprints right before they take off on their runs?
Enduro courses were originally supposed to be patterned after what rec riders do on their weekend rides.
If that's the case, then why don't they simply mix in some hills ON COURSE?
What I'd forgotten about that trail is that there are couple of sneaky climbs, just when you bang into your tallest gear, the trail looms up and you realise that you're (well me) are not going to get all the way up so need to get to the top of the cassette.
Good fun though.
But I’m french and in some enduro races, we are oblige to wear full face all the time. South of france is way hotter than 26 degrees
Have a nice ride
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