The Blue Lake city turned on the weather on the weekend for more than 100 mountain bikers keen to hit the trails.


The riders were treated to some interesting conditions as the Valley Lakes and Mount Gambier hosted round two of the 2025 South Australia Gravity Enduro Series.


Despite the wet forecast for the weekend there was a good number of participants racing on Sunday, with around 130 racers hitting the tracks.


Event organiser and racer Shane de Jong said overall the weekend was very pleasing, despite the slippery conditions.


“It was really good, obviously the weather was pretty interesting,” he said.


“We’re not used to getting that much rain all at once, especially after a really dry summer, so it was very unique conditions in that regard, but overall it was a very good weekend.”


Several local riders had solid weekends with numerous podium finishes throughout the different categories.


In the seven-stage course elite men brothers Shane and Justin de Jong rode well, with Justin finishing second and Shane third, with Giles Button from the Barossa Valley coming out on top.


The fastest time of the day came from Mount Barker’s Andy Hacquoil, who also won the Under 19 men, finishing the seven-stage course with an inside time of 10:02.


In the expert men, local James Stephens finished first with Sam Madzia third.


Local rider Trey Elefsen had a great day, placing first in the open men category with Finn Mitchell finishing fifth and Will Harrison sixth in the Under 17s.


Given the amount of rain that fell across the track, de Jong said it made for an interesting riding experience.


“It changes a lot just from throughout the weekend and because we set it up as a ‘choose your own adventure’, you could race the tracks at any stage order you wanted,” he said.


“I guess there was a little bit of strategy in that with what was going to dry out with lack of rain and then there’s a little drizzle, so it changes your mind on what track you’re going to race.


“It was pretty interesting to battle through that all weekend with the on and off rain.


“The track conditions overall were pretty slippery and it was a very unique kind of wet because of how dry it was in summer.”


Overall de Jong was again grateful for the support the event received from the Mount Gambier City Council along with the Western Tavern who hosted the riders after the race on Sunday.