The Ben Mcilroy Interview

18 year old Ben Mcilroy is an up and coming Enduro mountain bike racer from Mt Beauty, Victoria. Over the last 2 years he has progressed to be the fastest junior rider in Australia winning both the National Series and the National Championships in 2016. With a 12th place at the first round of the 2017 EWS (Enduro World Series) in Rotorua, NZ, Ben impressively went on to place 1st at the 2nd round of the EWS in Tasmania, Australia. I caught up with Ben to chat about racing and his potential future in the mountain bike world.



How did you get into riding?

Pretty much because of my Dad, when I was about 12 I started showing more interest in racing. I went to a few of the Victorian Enduro events but after a couple of years that series kind of fell apart. I then stared racing the national series.

How many national events have you raced?

My first national year in 2015 I raced three events, Toowoomba, Adelaide, and Canberra and placed 3rd overall for the series.
In 2016 I raced the Bright, Perth and Adelaide National series events winning all 3 and the U19 series overall, I then went onto win U19 National Champs in Adelaide (with a time that would have knocked Troy Brosnan off the elite podium).



How did you end up travelling and racing along side Chris Panozzo (2 time Elite Gravity Enduro Australian champion)?

I first met Chris at a Victorian Enduro state round at Barjarg, I was still like Under 15s or Under 17s and I knew that he was a fast dude, I wanted to hang out with the fast guys so I wanted to hang out with Chris Panozzo.
I remember at Barjarg the shuttles were always a bit delayed, we were hanging out down the bottom for so long that we nearly missed our race runs. When we got to the top, everyone was wondering where we’d been. He was just like “Ah we’ve just been chilling at the bottom.” So that felt pretty cool.
After that he invited me to travel with him to the next round at Narbethong, during that trip we decided not to race any more of the Vic series. I thought that I wouldn’t really continue racing but then Chris invited me to Toowoomba. That was my first national race and from then on we just became mates and he invited me along to all of the races he was doing.



What are your goals for this year, more EWS or is going to be too hard to juggle school?

I’m racing the EWS in New Zealand and in Tasmania but this year I want to finish Year 12 and get out alive, do as much riding as I can and stay fit. It’s probably not the best year to be going into my first EWS because Year 12 takes up such a massive chunk of my time.

Have you got any plans for further studies such as University, or depending on how these 2 EWS events go would you like to chance it and try to become a professional racer?

I haven’t really thought too much about it. Becoming a professional mountain biker would be pretty sick but you sort of do have to have another profession once you come out the other side.

Do you think you’d be able to develop a career and race at the same time?

Yeah, looking at someone like Paul Van Der Ploeg (2013 XCE World Champion and also raised in Mount Beauty) who’s been at University for like forever but at the same time he’s been a professional mountain biker. So it’s possible.

I like Physics so maybe something to do with engineering, I’d love to get involved with building new parts for bikes, making them faster and better. Developing ideas like Shimano’s new electronic gearing, which I’ve just got on my new bike.



It’s pretty obvious you like to keep involved with the mountain bike world. Do you feel any pressure from a biking perspective during your final year at school?

There’s so many people helping me and pushing me into the pro mountain bike scene and it’s so easy to get sucked into it and think it’s going to continue to be easy for the rest of my life. I step back and think that it’ll be hard work, but with the right support I could do it. I think it’s important to still have to the love for mountain biking.

Do you think your love for the sport will change if you become a full on racer?

Not really, As much as I enjoy the whole vibe of riding with my mates, hanging out and having a good time. I still really really enjoy the racing aspect of mountain biking, it determines who is the best and everyone wants to be the best at what they do.

Racing has brought mountain biking to where it is today, bikes are lighter and faster and better then ever and racing has played a massive role in that.



Did you have any expectations racing your first EWS events?

I had no idea. I didn’t know if I was going to come last or first or not finish. I hoped there’d be lots of riders, because in the Australian races there’s only like 20 athletes, but it’s the other side of the world for all the Europeans, so I don’t know if the junior riders would travel that far.

Anyone you'd like to thank?

Mum and Dad, Chris, Sam and everyone from Shimano.

It'll be fascinating to see where Ben will go in the future and I wish him all the best.

Words and Photographs by Matt Rousu