Known for it’s rugged and gnarly terrain, Tamrookum Creek MTB Park was the host for round 3 of the Queensland Enduro Series. The was no shortage of challenges for the riders and a large portion of the riders finished with dirt on their ride kit, minus a bit of skin….
Located 90 minutes South West of Brisbane, Tamrookum Creek MTB Park is home to some of the gnarliest trails in South East Queensland. This year’s Enduro proved no different from last with loose, steep and technical terrain abundant on all stages. The infamous Carnage Creek chute took more than it’s fair share of victims with many a rider ripping some skin, rolling in some dust and picking themselves up for the last chute before the stage finish.
Stages for the race included blue trail ‘Jack Knife’, black trail ‘Turkey’ (with garden path entrance), blue trail ‘Flat Out’ and last but not least the double black ‘Carnage Creek’. For all but the elite riders this would be their race, most hinging their results on how they performed on Carnage Creek. The Elite riders were thrown another challenge with their race won or lost on the most difficult double black trail ‘Trap Door’. Trap Door was so difficult in fact that only the Elite Riders rode this trail, some of which found the dirt despite their immense skill levels.
Conditions were great for the race with loose, dusty conditions found on all trails, some of which becoming quite blown out in places, but that’s racing in Queensland. Technical skills were a must for all riders with rock drops, rock gardens, doubles, gap jumps, steep terrain and a few different chutes to test their metal. Overall it was an awesome race weekend with only a few injuries despite the testing terrain, the guys at Tamrookum creek put on a well organised event.
The business end of the day saw Ben Forbes take the top step in elite men followed by Mitch Codner and Sam Fraser filling out the podium. Elite Women saw Katherine Hosking take the win over Laura Craft and Annerlie Marquardt in third place. Expert Category was won by Jake Evans, Masters 1/2 was won by Bobby Blinco, Masters 3/4 saw Damo Liddy narrowly beat Garry Wellman for the top step, Masters 1/2 Women saw Alexandra Testud take the win and Michelle Gane took out the Masters 3/4 Women’s category.
The juniors put on another strong showing with a total of 68 competitors, proving that despite the challenging terrain the new generation were ready to tackle the trails. U19 Men saw Caleb Rees take 1st with Alex Shadbolt in second place and third place went to Connor Aves. U17 Men was dominated by Lee Witzerman, U17 Women led to Sarah Craft winning and U15 Men was won by Carter Sloan by less than a second. Overall an epic display of grit and skill by all our junior riders and something all of their parents should be proud of.
As the sun sets on another epic round of the Queensland Enduro Series, we dust off our gear, service our bikes and get ready for the next race weekend in Rockhampton. It’ll take a hell of a trail network to out-do the gnar of Tamrookum Creek but no doubt Rockhampton will have it’s own challenges……
Element Race Photo Gallery Here
RACE RESULTS HERE
ENTER ROCKHAMPTON ENDURO HERE
