Canadian enduro race to feature in new World Enduro Series

On Aug. 10,

the Canadian Open Enduro will be first and only stop in the new World Enduro Series. Chris Ball, former uci gravity coordinator, started the seven-race series that also has events in Italy, France and the U. S. In 2013, enduro racing falls outside of the uci’s purview. Ball left the organization so he could continue to formalize the discipline.

According to Darren Kinnaird – general manager of the Crankworx mountain bike festival and one of Ball’s fellow Enduro Mountain Bike Association board members – the French invented enduro roughly 10 years ago and the Italians later perfected it. The Canadian Open Enduro has been around for about seven years. It started out as a Super D event, a downhill challenge that also required some pedalling, and then evolved into the current format.

In an enduro event, riders cover about 40 km of track that features climbs and descents, but only the descents are timed. There are usually four to six timed downhill sections and the rider with the lowest cumulative time wins. The popularity of the event is growing. “For the Canadian Open Enduro, we’ll have double the number of participants in the event from 2012,” said Kinnaird, “We had 175 in the race last year and we’re expecting 350 plus. It’s quickly becoming one of the most popular mountain biking disciplines because anyone and everyone can get involved. And there’s the social aspect to it. When you’re riding from stage to stage, you can ride with your buddy and talk about how the last stage went. You can catch up. It’s kind of like when you go riding with your buddies on the weekend. You ride up, you ride down and, in the end, you go for a beer.”