Enduro racers prepare for first national title battle

The inaugral Australian Enduro National Mountain Bike titles are up for grabs this weekend.

Riders practice for the weekend's racing on Smithfields tropical jungle trails Source: Tourism Tropical North Queensland

The racing will take place on the iconic Smithfield trails in Cairns and see some of Australia’s best cross-country, downhill and all-round riders battle it out for the chance of new green and gold jersey.

Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) Enduro Series champion Chris Panazzo will headline the talented field in Cairns this weekend for the inaugural 2015 Enduro National Mountain Bike Championships, based out of the stunning beach location of Palm Cove.

The two-day race is a result of the success of this year’s 2015 Enduro Series, and offers riders the opportunity to be crowned the first ever Australian champion in the fastest growing mountain bike discipline in the world.

The event is being run under the guidance and hosting of the Cairns Mountain Bike Club, with racing to be held on the iconic Smithfield Mountain Bike Trails. This is the same venue that has played host to many illustrious national and international events over the last 20 years, including a round of the 2014 UCI World Cup series, which it will host again in April 2016.

For Panazzo, the event provides a great opportunity to not only race the world class trails for the first time, but to be crowned the inaugural champion as well.

“My preparation has been good, you always want to it be better but I’m feeling fit and fresh and ready to go,” Panazzo said.

“It’s actually my first time to Cairns, so it’s all new for me, I have seen all the iconic footage of the trails so it’s good to finally come and see it all for myself.

“It’s a great opportunity to try and become the first Enduro National champion, the first of anything is always special so hopefully it’s a great contest.”

Each of the five stages will take in a mix trails from historic downhill and cross-country events. The course is designed to test not only the endurance of riders but their technical prowess.

The winners will be the riders with the shortest accumulative time over the predominantly descending race stages, but in order to do so, they will need to complete over 1100m of vertical climbing on the same bikes during untimed transition stages.

The racing begins with a prologue on Saturday, followed by four race stages on Sunday.

 

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@jonnyodams Nothing short of epic is my summation of cairns and the full national enduro champs course. Great times with @ronronmtb on the bike and back at @jacobstrail ranch. #epic #enduro #ride #giantbikesaus #mtb #makeitreign #ridecairns #cairns #jungle #rad 

@jonnyodams These trails are so much #fun on the new @giantbikesaus #reignadvanced . #ridecairns #jungle #enduro #jump #turnbar #fast #bike #mtb @foxheadaustralia @foxmtb

@em_parkes Flashing it back a day early to the Cairns World Cup! Nice to be heading back up back up there this morning for a race! Not an XC World cup thank goodness! Time for some shredding at Enduro National champs! #braaap #soenduro