Video: Thailand Enduro Series Round Two

After the very successful first round, this time we had 160 participants with riders from all kinds of riding disciplines from DH to BMX riders. We are very happy to see the expanded base of riders for this round and hopefully more in future. It is very important to attract riders from other disciplines to help building the base and growing the sport because MTB Enduro discipline is very new in Thailand. This time, there were more than 30 foreign participants from across the globe, such as, Malaysia, Singapore, UK, Canada, NZ, Australia, Belgium, France, and Germany.






The event would’ve not been possible without the support from TANKstore, Sport Bicycle, Red Bull Thailand, Buff Headwear and many others. The support from SPORTident was awesome, thanks Sebastian flying over just to support us!








On Saturday, mother nature gave us the biggest down pour in the monsoon season. Because of the heavy rainfall since Friday, the condition of the trails changed greatly. Some trails were blogged by fallen branches. The already damp trails turn into slippery muddy trails that challenged even the most experienced riders. Big thanks to the great minded riders who help cleared up the branches on the trails during their practice run.





The seeding run was on a second half of Red Bull Stage (Stage 4). The seeding started from 14:00 till 16:30, luckily the heavy rain stopped just in time before we start, 13:50 to be exact! The starting list from the seeding result was then chopped in to four waves of 40 riders of the same abilities.




The race day, Sunday, we couldn't have asked for more from the mother nature, it was all sunshine! So officially, Saturday was the last of every rain drop that the monsoon season has. Season change!






After each wave was released from the festival ground, riders got uplifted by our trailers to the high ground but there is still a short punchy (painful) climb that riders would need to complete before they hit Stage 1 starting gate. The first liaison ride was 2 km with a time of 45 minute s for riders to manage.






TANKstore Stage (Stage 1) was a great flowy trail that helped adjusting riders to a new environment and get used to the slipperiness of the trails. It’s all natural with small drops and rolling bumps some roots and ruts. This stage was 2.61 km long and ended at the stream crossing where riders could refresh themselves by the natural water source before heading into the Liaison 2. To stage 2 riders got 60 minutes to climb on the same road as previous plus about 380 additional meters to add to the 2 km climb.





Sport Bicycle Stage (Stage 2) was a more technical trail. The trail was shorter about 1.54 km long with mostly natural terrain. It started off with a big drop (chicken run as option) then a fast approaching double. The upper part of the trail was covered with dense canopy where riders got accustomed to the low light condition, with a sudden end of the covering foliage riders found themselves out under the blue sky and a steep, slippery and rutted trail underneath them. Laid ahead was a rock garden size of baby heads that was ready to bite racer’s tires to flat. The stage ended on the same liaison road that riders would have to climb for the third time with 60 minutes in their pockets.




Buff Headwear Stage (Stage 3) share the same upper trail as the TANKstore stage with the continuous fun the whole way down 4.37km stretch of natural terrain. The bottom end part of the trail was flat which require riders to pedal to the finish. This trail is one of the trails that many riders love to ride again and again, it’s well balanced and everyone can enjoy. However, at this time most riders are very exhausted and trying to hang on. The liaison road to stage 4 was 4.38km of easy climb but not so easy if you were fighting with muscle cramps as many riders have experienced!





Red Bull Stage (Stage 4) This stage is rather flat to many riders’ standard which bring the test to rider’s fitness. The trail is rolling at a slower speed which required riders to pedal to add more speed. With this tame looking trail hid some technical rooted and rutted sections. Alongside the bottom half of the trail there were thorn bushes riders need to keep out, added to their adventure weekend. The trail was 4.38km long and ended with a short steep climb and back to the festival ground.




At the end of the day after the exhausting ride, the Red Bull Wing Girls were busy serving drinks to the thirsty riders. The Red Bull bar opened for riders and followers that needed more kick than the regular Red Bull. There were many food options to suit everyone’s test-spots from halal Doner Kebabs to the well known Pad Thai and everything in between.




Lucky draw time! The luckiest guy got a free frame, while others enjoy smaller prizes from our sponsors.





Everyone awaited the award ceremony. The overall winner goes to Keerati Sukprasart (Life and Living Bikenet / ARMY), 2nd Sean Hill Suebsakul Sukjanya (Smiley RKC/Specialized), 3rd Tang Chinnapat (Smiley RKC), 4th Napon Jamroonwong and 5th Jar Ja Jiratiwat (Smiley RKC). The second overall winner this round, Sean Hill Suebsakul Sukjanya, is still the leader in this year series.

Overall

Elite Men

Elite Women

Master A

Master B

Master C

Junior

The trophy design is from the name of the hill we are riding, “Eto”. Eto in Thai means local utility knife, used by ethnic Thai for all sorts of duties. The hill has the silhouette of Eto knife when viewed from a distance away.


Thank you for all support. See you all next round.
For more information please visit our website and Facebook page


Nawaphansa Yugala
Race Director