After last week’s bad news about the National XCM series, many riders have been looking at others races to focus on for 2013. For all you Melbourne / Victoria based riders out there, the Victorian Enduro Series (VES) might be a pretty good alternative. This series is the result of a combined effort of several Victorian clubs and brings together seven rounds of racing between March and November 2013. Where the 2011 and 2012 series were 6 hour events only, the 2013 series will run both 6 and 3 hour enduro races at every round. There will be 10 race categories and riders have the choice to ride solo or in teams of two or three riders, making the VES both challenging and social events. Lock these races into your calender, have a think weather you want to tackle the series alone or grab one or two friends and compete for the teams podium.
With seven rounds on seven different locations all around Victoria, the VES offers riders something different every time. This is what the 2013 calendar looks like:
March 23 – Crazy Six Enduro – Kurrajong, You Yangs
April 27 – Mt Beauty 6hr – Big Hill Mountain Bike Park
June 29 – Albury 6hr – Nail Can Hill
July 27 – Gippsland 6hr – Blores Hill
September 22 – Ballarat 6hr – Canadian Forrest
October 20 – Rock Hop 6hr – Dallas Brooks Park, Upper Beaconsfield
November 10 – The Buxton Boot Camp – Buxton MTB Park
For the 2013 series, riders will be ranked in one of these 10 categories:
Solo 6hr – Men, Women, Men 40+
Solo 3hr – Men, Women, Junior Pairs
Teams 6hr – Men, Women, Mixed, Open 40+
Looking back at the 2012 overall results, the series had a strong field with 177 riders in the Male Solo category, where Sam Chancellor from the Geelong Mountainbike Club took the overall victory after winning seven out of nine races. In the Solo Woman category, overall went to Katie Chancellor.
For more information on the series and the race rules, have a look at their website vicenduroseries.com.au . Entries for the first two rounds in March and April are already open via Entry Zone.