Video: Malverns Classic Funnduro

Saturday saw a huge swath of people heading out for the Funn Enduro or ‘Funnduro’ as it was being called! Enduro as a discipline and subsequently a racecraft, didn’t formally exist 20 years ago however, we’re pretty sure it was just called mountain biking back then and so racing down a few trails against your mates is really nothing new. Nowadays it's a super popular format of racing and as such, was only right to include it.



Funn by name and indeed fun by nature, the race consisted of 3 stages, all starting from different sides of the hilltop. The courses all shared similar characteristics in that they had a shallow gradient and minimally technical terrain however, the classical features of the trails encouraged ridiculous speeds, which, given the singletrack nature of stages 1 and 2, meant there were a few off-piste excursions! Stage 3 was more of an open affair, with the course starting tighter and then opening out on a grassy hilltop with glorious panoramic views of the Malverns, (not that anyone saw any of it I’d imagine, feeling like you’re breathing through a straw tends to tunnel the vision!) before carving down to the finish at the valley floor.

Once again the elite category attracted some of the big guns with Wyn Masters, Ben Deakin, Jono Jones and Hope Factory Racing’s Phil Pearce to name but a few. The other categories were just as highly contested with literally hundreds of competitors across the remaining classes.


The beauty of such a mellow course meant that literally anyone could have a go, from absolute amateurs to, well, the above hooligans! Phil Pearce and Wyn Masters exchanged the lead a couple of times throughout the day whilst Ben Deakin threw a couple of punches into the mix. Jono started with a blinder but had a mishap in stage 2 which put him right down the field. At the end of the blistering fast and open stage 3, it was Phil Pearch from Hope that was crowned the champ, followed closely by Wyn Masters and Ben Deakin.


Where the other events were slightly more intense, the ‘Funnduro’ proved to be exactly as intended and drew a massive number of entrants, all wanting to have a go at racing their buddies - an all encompassing opportunity to do skids whilst the clock ticked. This really is exactly what is so cool about Enduro as a discipline.



The field of entrants is simply too exhaustive to mention but full results can be seen below:

https://www.rootsandrain.com/race6823/2018-jun-16-bds-the-malverns-mtb-festival-enduro-eastnor-deer-park/results/

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