The weekend of the 18-19 July saw the Semenic Enduro take place in the beautiful Semenic Mountains in Romania. The 37km-long course was billed as one of the country's toughest with wet weather and mist making the sub-alpine singletrack and loam even more challenging. The event was rated as RED (Advanced) 2 bars on the EWS Event Grading system.
Enduro is still very much an emerging discipline in Romania and given the events double status as the country's national championships it's great to see new ground being broken.
Over to Dan Jurca for the full report:
A brave field of riders, young and old, gave it their best on one of Romania’s most challenging courses at the Semenic Enduro in Valiug, Romania. With the weather forecast calling for 100% chance of rain, thunder, and lighting by the events start-time, Valiug would soon become one of the wettest, muddiest, and all-around mettle-testing races in recent memory!
Check out the event highlights here:
Remus-Cristian Bonta secured the Men’s overall victory in a highly competitive field of riders, closely followed by Radu Ianosiu Hangan in second and Alexandru Ciprian Muresan in third. Fourth place overall Men’s finisher was Sorin Parau who took the win in the Men’s 30-39 age group to build upon a long history of success in both enduro and downhill racing.
Coming off her recent Romanian Downhill National Championship win, Luana Cherecheș didn’t miss a beat and took the win in the Women’s category, 11 minutes ahead of second place finisher Denisa Anghelina, while Daria Gruian was the U21 Women’s fastest rider of the day.
Absolute focus was essential. Pic: Mih-i Leu
Akos Farkas delivered the fastest time for the Men’s 15-19 field, with Tork Mark, snagging second place and local ripper Loan Paunescu nabbing a respectful third.
Master Men’s winner Robi Laszlo, 2019 Romanian National Enduro Cup winner, proved that he still knows how to be a kid and play in the mud, skillfully taking the win over impressive second place shredder Sergiu Paca and third place American rider, Clint Hensley.
The Semenic Enduro was a 2020 EWS Qualifier event, as well as the Romanian Enduro National Championship. With hopes to encourage greater participation in the enduro discipline in Romania, Semenic Enduro had several more age and skill level categories than those used in the EWS. Several participants in the Hobby category scorched the course and we look forward to having them join the expert field in future races!
Luana Chereches cruised to victory in the Womenʼs field. Pic: Mihai Leu
Remus-Cristian Bonta stands atop the 1st place podium for the Menʼs field. Photo: Mihai Leu
We congratulate each and every rider who braved the extreme conditions and the crucial work of the volunteers from Asociația Bike Attack Reșița without whose work this event would not have been possible.
