The final weekend of January saw Mt. Buller host the first round of the Rockshox Enduro Challenge. Mt. Buller is a familiar place to anyone who races downhill having hosted many races over the years of operation, but this was to be a fresh race style for the mountain with a six stage enduro race, with liaison stages to link each section together. The event pulled in some big names such as Jared Graves, Richie Rude, Jerome Clementz, Sam Hill and Troy Brosnan, for anyone out there who is observant, you’ll see all of those riders are current or past world champions, quite an impressive field!
The track linked some of Mount Bullers classic tracks such as parts of international with some lesser known track around the mountain, and then with some of the newer Epic trail network. The tracks had a lot of up in the liaison stages, taking more than a little puff out of many riders, but the slog was rewarded with some great downhill sections, some opening up to some amazing alpine views.
The results were as follows:
Pro Men
1. Jared Graves 23:28.05
2. Troy Brosnan 24:27.04
3. Ryan De La Rue 24:29.68
4. Richie Rude 24:38.41
5. Sam Hill 24:45.73
6. Ben Forbes 24:49.82
7. Paul van der Ploeg 24:53.10
8. Ben Cory 24:54.54
9. Jerome Clementz 24:56.70
10. Chris Panozzo 24:59.73
Pro Women
1. Peta Mullens 28:07.67
2. Brodie Chapman 28:42.97
3. Claire Whiteman 29:08.96
4. Pauline Dieffenthaler 29:25.96
5. Sarsha Hungtington 29:39.57
