Good friend of mine did the 3&4 round of the Canadian enduro championship last weekend. here is his pix and report. He took a third. Just thought you guys might like to check this out. Looks like a killer event, i should have gone. All the pix - http://trav.smugmug.com/gallery/8900930_54dYt#P-1-15 My buddy trav... The story (Ken and Ron are friends from the north)... myself, pete wisner, mike decker, the larsen's, and few others from WA went up to Penticton last weekend to do round 3&4 of the canadian enduro championship. we got to visit some with ron and ken. ken is member of the hosting club (SODBC), and ron did a lot of the setup for the extreme test. Both Ken and Ron received awards from the promoters for all their work. they were both working their butts off the entire time. ron was out working by 5am every morning and all over the place. ken seemed to be busy keeping things organized. as we left monday morning they were unloading an excavator to tear down the extreme test and claimed they would be working most the day to fix trail as well. It was a really cool event. first off the fact that the course started at the base of a cool ski resort and ascended to the summit of the mountain, I don't think you'll find that in the states except for maybe ski resorts on private land. the course was a lot of fun. the event was very well organized and I took for granted that we were going to a canadian "national"... everything seemed over the top compared to the local events and made for a fun time. not quite the scale of WORCS, but close. each day the PRO and A class ran the course 3 times with 3 tests each loop except for the first loop the enduro section they did not time. the first test was a "cross test" consisting of MX and a bit of woods, like mini WORCS track. the corners were setup perfect and even an MX spode like me felt like a hero at times. next an enduro section which consisted of a down hill mountain bike trail and some flowing single track through the woods. then ron's extreme test, which on saturday was a total ass kicker and they ended up toning it down for sunday stating that they "ran out of Kleenex". the rest of the course was transfer sections, mostly single track on some cool mountain bike trails. about 25 miles each loop and 8 tests total. saturday was exhausting. the enduro test had a hill climb that ascended 4000' and by the 2nd lap it was completely chewed up with bikes spewed all over. they had to re-route for sunday moving the enduro test and add new transfer section. as a result they had to through out the enduro test on saturday. on our 3rd lap they held back the PRO and A classes at the tests to let the amatuers get through. so we got to see some of the canadian pros ride the extreme test and MX section. Bobby prochnau is an animal and just charges everything like a mad man. BMW had a hired gun on their 450 that was putting on a show, not the fastest but was holding the 450 on the rev limiter and styling through everything. some dude from the Yamaha team was doubling the culverts, which just seemed impossible with their placement.
Looks like a cross between Erzburg and endurocross. I'm practially crying just looking at the obstacles! Great report and pix, though.
That was Jake Stapleton...former WEC junior champ. He lives in Parry Sound, Ontario now. I am actually organizing a training school on July 25th with him. The guy is fast on any terrain. I am also the organizer of the final round in Parry Sound (same place the 2006 and 2007 WEC were held). We do not have the mountains of BC but it will still be killer. So if any Yanks from the East side want to make the treck the event is Sept 19 and 20. There is also rounds 4&5 in Quebec the weekend prior (Sept 12 and 13). Also I am organizing an amateur enduro using the same format as these events on July 26th. http://www.cafehusky.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3817 This is for amateurs but will still be a killer event. Matt P.S. here is some video of the cross test and extreme test of the BC event that were mentioned above. Extreme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHhn1vzo20 Cross http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptHXdGSYnY here are some pics from rounds 1 and 2 http://kbi.smugmug.com/gallery/8793054_wGfqe#583839406_CL2Y6
Ahhh the carnage. It is funny when you see a pro come through (they are the ones with the front number plates)...zip.
Planned to attend just to watch, but other things came up for the weekend. Looks like we missed some good action. Thanx for the link Kelly.
Here is Annie Lavoie from Quebec finding a new way to clear the obstacles....or maybe her KTM is sponsored by Red Bull...Gives You Wings I think the dude on the right crapped his pants
That's how I used to clear a tough obstacle; in two stages. Let the bike clear the way and then follow when it's safe. These days I clear a tough obstacle by finding a different trail.
