Sunshine, dust, good spirits and the top riders from pretty much every conceivable discipline of mountain bike racing – that appeared to be the order of the day for the last race in the inaugural Enduro World Series.
Taking place in the beautiful coastal town of Finale Ligure, Italy, it’s one of the last big races of the 2013 season. With the downhill and cross country World Cup series already concluded, it’s little wonder that professional riders were flocking to final event in the amazingly successful series.
British rider Tracy Moseley went into the competition already crowned the female Enduro World Champion – but that’s not to say she was going to relax and keep the brakes on for this last race.
Starting off on Saturday, there followed an exciting two days of riding up and racing down some more of the beautiful scenery that has been a characteristic of this race series.
Moseley, AKA TMo, thundered to victory, closely followed by Anne Caroline Chausson of France, and Cecile Ravanel (France) in third place. For the full results, visit the Enduro World Series website.
It feels almost unreal to have had such a good season and taken the World Title in the first ever year ! It took me 12yrs to win that title in downhill ! I’ve loved the variety of trails and the new challenge that enduro racing has given me this season.
Tracy Moseley, October 2013
Other notable Brits include Katy Winton in 20th, Hannah Barnes in 24th and Petra Wiltshire in 26th.
Tracy Moseley, AKA TMo, has been riding her TREK Remedy 29er for the majority of the Series as part of the TREK Factory Racing team, and she appears to be a fan of the larger wheel size.
The trophy for the World Series has been designed by Anka and Sven Martin, well known within the mountain biking world.
Anka is an enduro rider for Juliana Bicycles and has been competing in the series, and Sven is a legendary MTB photographer – so it’s safe to say the task of capturing the spirit of Enduro racing in sculptural form was in good hands.
Made of wood by Edinburgh-based artisan Simon Muir, the trophy is made of different coloured woods, and contains compartments that have little relics of each of the races. These include;
- Soil from Punta Ala, Italy
- Rock from Val d’Allos, Franc
- A bottle of Genepe spirit from Les 2 Alpes, France
- Bark and aspen leaves from Winter Park, US
- ‘Old man’s beard’ moss from Whistler, Canada
- White organic linen from Val d’Isere, Frace
- Fresh hazelnuts and beach sand from Finale Ligure, Italy
It’s been widely acknowledged that this first year of the World Series has been a roaring success, and dates are already set for the 2014 Series. There’s even a round in Scotland, so if you want to experience the spirit of World Enduro right here in the British Isles, get yourself along!
