Race Report and Photos: Racing Returns to the UK at the Southern Enduro Champs 2020

Just like that, we are back! The end to a seemingly never-ending halt to racing in the UK due to the Coronavirus pandemic is over. However, with true British style this momentous occasion was greeted with mist and rain. Despite this classic British weather, over 250 riders flocked to compete at the beloved annual event and the Southern Enduro team did not disappoint laying out 10 stages over 2 days.


Day 1 was run on five brutal stages, challenging riders with slippery roots (thanks British weather!), fast chutes, loose berms and some road gaps thrown in for good measure. The weather conditions kept riders on their toes all the way to the final corner with plenty of egos taking a hit by sliding out within touching distance of the finishing line, leaving riders desperately trying to claw back precious seconds.

Being the first event since lockdown, many were nervous about safety measures, but the Southern Enduro crew, as always, surpassed expectations providing socially distanced camping pitches, clean facilities and a safe place to get your caffeine fix. Peace of mind all round which will hopefully pave the way for more UK based races to follow.


Gaps between riders were extended to 60 seconds and 2 metre social distancing put in place in the start queues, all ensured a safe event in the current climate.
















Riders returned for the second day of excitement on Sunday with five stages including one remodeled stage and one new stage with previously unridden parts of the track. This fresh turf was soon bedded in as those riders who survived Day 1 threw themselves into the competitiveness with some squeaky-bum near misses and several heroic saves on the bike. Thankfully the rain mostly held off today but as the tracks became drier the grippy mud disappeared and loose loam came to surface. The changeable conditions and blind racing clearly didn’t daunt everyone with Becky Cook (Wight Mountain) 21:30:03 taking the fastest women of the weekend spot with Richard Tucker (KustomBikes) the fastest man overall with a time of 19:06:09.


Conditions improved through the day but the day of rain had turned the transition stages into sloppy clay bogs in places making already tiring transitions even tougher on the riders' legs. With restrictions in place on the number of spectators allowed it was good to see the riders getting behind each other and making up for the lack of people spectating.



It is really good to see the women's field growing almost on an event by event basis if your a woman who rides why not give a race a go it's never even half as scary as you think.




Becky Cook looked smooth all weekend and was the fastest woman of the weekend.




The veterans put on a good show all weekend these boys can still shred on a bike.




As always, there was a large field of masters and senior riders but with no elite field this year these classes sore weekend warriors rubbing shoulders with elite riders and even a full factory supported World Cup/EWS pro. This didn't seem to daunt any of the riders and if anything it made them all lift their game. The standard of riding was high from all the riders this weekend.





It was good to see all of the armed forces represented this weekend. As always the inter forces rivalry was out in force.


The fastest man of the day was Richard Tucker who just looked super smooth all weekend seemingly unfazed by the changing conditions throughout the weekend.







It is always amazing to see the hardtail riders take on enduro racing on hardtails however, this clearly wasn't enough of a challenge for Matt Lakin who cam in 3rd in the hardtail class on a hardtail with rigid forks.




Sadly no podiums this weekend due to the Covid-19 restrictions but the winners are below

Results

Full Results

Lastly a massive thanks and congratulations to the Southern Enduro team who put on an amazing event with can't have been easy to do in the current climate. So please do support them and maybe enter one or more of there future events.

https://southernenduro.co.uk/