The Emerald Enduro - 2017 Enduro World Series Round 4 - On the 28th of May 2017 Ireland will host the fourth round of the Enduro World Series. The world’s top riders will line out in the Wicklow mountains for a tough day of mountain bike racing over 50km of technical terrain in a rally style format with testing special stages.
This is the third year that the global series has visited Ireland and is testament to the large crowds of enthusiastic supporters who line the stages roaring on the riders. 2016 marked a turning point for Irish Enduro racing with 4 of the 5 categories won by Irish riders, an unheralded achievement, crowned by hometown hero Greg Callaghan who repeated his 2015 win in front of an ecstatic crowd.
This year the weekend has an added dimension with the Challenger event on Saturday the 27th where riders can dip their toe into the elite level of Enduro by taking on four of the six stages from the full race. Riders from both events will practise on the Friday on stages 1-4 with the Emerald Enduro riders practising stages 5 and 6 on Saturday when the Challenger event is on.
The event village will have something for everyone with food venders, the stage, exhibitors and the team pit area which guarantees unprecedented access to the riders and their teams. Signing sessions will be taking place throughout the weekend so be sure and check out the team pits to see when to meet your favourite racer. The event village itself will be a focal point to the weekend as the riders depart and return individually and the commentary team will be providing live updates throughout the day.
Carrick is almost unique among EWS venues in having ready access to the trails from the event village and a short walk will bring you to the bottom of all of the six stages. The whole course is easily accessible with clear onsite maps and access routes and the stages ring the mountain in sequence allowing spectators to catch the racers on each stage. Admission is free for under 18s with adult admission available for only €5.
Event organiser Niall Davis of Biking.ie had the following to say - “It will be hard to top the amazing weekend we had last year, seeing Greg Callaghan cement his status as one of the world’s best and seeing 3 other Irish competitors take the top step. The crowds helped the riders to fly and the positive feedback from international riders was quite humbling. Irish riding is booming currently and it is great to see so many young riders coming up in all disciplines of the sport!"
Enduro is virtually unique among top level world racing events in that regular riders can sign up to race alongside the world’s best on the same tracks. Racing takes place in a rally style format with timed (mainly downhill) stages and non-timed transitions between these stages.
2017 is the fifth year of the Enduro World Series with eight rounds taking the riders to New Zealand, Tasmania, Madeira, Ireland, France, USA, Canada and the final round in Italy.
For further queries contact info@biking.ie or 083-4173899. The official website can be found at emeraldenduro.com and you can follow us on social media @emeraldenduro on Twitter and on the facebook page at www.facebook.com/emeraldenduro.
Visit www.enduroworldseries.com for more and to view videos of previous events.