Ahost of top level riders made tracks to the Valley Lakes on the weekend as Mount Gambier hosted round 2 of the 2024 Gravity Enduro SA Series.
Mountain Bike riders from across the state and nation took to the trails in the Crater Lakes precinct, with just under 200 riders joining with 22 locals to showcase their skills.
Professional rider Connor Fearon won the event, finishing first in five of the six stages on the trail.
Local rider Justin de Jong finished second in the Elite Men category with Fearon the only rider better in the category.
Also competing in the Elite Men was Shane de Jong who also had a great weekend finishing fourth.
Local Eddie Cram also did well in the junior section, finishing second in the Under 13s.
Cram did not practise on the Saturday so was not familiar with the conditions of the trails, making his second place result all the more impressive given it was his first race.
In the under 17 men locals Deegan Watson and Fin Mitchell rode well with Watson finishing 11th and Mitchell 15th.
Ben Walker and James Stephens competed well in the Expert Men category, with Walker first and Stephens second.
Shane de Jong said this year featured a different track than usual due to the lack of rain in Mount Gambier.
“It was quite interesting with the tracks, with the lack of rain this year saw a lot of changes,” he said.
“There was quite a lot of use on the trails, there were some big holes and some of the corners had disappeared and a lot of things like that had changed so much.
“I kind of feel like you get a local advantage having a race at home but that was not the case because it was pretty hard to adapt to the different trail conditions, you just had to look ahead and avoid focusing on what’s right in front of you.”
Following on from the Crater Lakes fire in January 2022, de Jong said he was looking forward to resuming riding on the trails that had been out use, with the possibility of them being available for racing for next year’s events.
“The two trails taken out by the fires would make the entire trial one big loop and would add some more time on the track and better riding for everyone,” he said.
“It completes the loop and it just offers a track that’s more than two minutes long and anyone can ride it and it’s quite an easy trail, so I would really love that to be reopened but obviously the bushfire recovery is still piece by piece and we’re just trying to be as patient as possible and allowing them to do whatever needs doing, but it would be really good to see that reopened for the event next year.”
The Gravity Enduro SA Series will be back in Mount Gambier in 2025.
