With the enduro discipline really taking off over the last two years, Chris Roberts from naked Racing decided that running Mini Downhill races wasn’t enough, and decided to branch out. The result, Mini Enduro, looks like a great format for a one-day enduro race. Here’s what went down over the weekend in Caersws.

Words: Chris Roberts

Caersws in Mid Wales is probably best known for its downhill tracks then a venue for an Enduro.

The concept of the Mini Enduro is to make it fun and give riders 3 good stages to race on, with enough time to practice each stage in the morning & then race down them in the afternoon.

The format was a change to the normal loop for an enduro; the stages had been chosen to give a real variety to the racing. Stage 1 and 3 were using what people know as the Midland side of the hill, the top sections hold lots of berms and jumps. Stage 2 used a previously unused track threw in quite bit of pedalling linking up the old national dragon tracks and using a tunnel under the road making the 29niner riders duck!

The stages varied from tight single track, jumps, massive bus stops, and couple of steep shoots that caught a few riders out in Sunday morning practice.

The finish of Stage 1 and 3 blasted down wide open fields where riders were hitting speeds in excess of 40mph down the final shoot into finish.

There were a few familiar faces that had raced downhill here with what some would call “local knowledge” of what to expect and were really flying kicking up the dust in the turns right from the start of practice.

All 3 stages times were shown live on the TV screens at the finish of each stage to give instant position changes during the race with live commentary provided by Andrew Cooper on Stages 1 and 3.

Everything ran smoothly, with podiums straight after the last rider finished it was great end to super fun day of racing.

Top 3 Podiums and full results on www.minienduro.tv

The next race is planned for October with a normal loop-type format but will include more full gas descents!

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