The Trek Factory Racing Enduro team kicks off their season in New Zealand
The Enduro World Series is one of those racing circuits that is almost more adventure than straight competition. The journey to the Southern Hemisphere is a true migration of people and resources, and is significant enough to be considered part of the race. A beautiful system of trails awaited the riders in Rotorua, New Zealand, with five stages squeezed into one mega day of riding. The Trek Factory Racing team made up of Katy Winton, Ruaridh Cunningham, and Pedro Burns had a couple days to explore the trails and get acquainted. When Sunday rolled around, it was all business for Trek’s top team of enduro specialists.
As the dust settled on the racing, it would be an eighth place finish for Katy Winton, a 19th for Ruaridh Cunningham, and a 27th for Pedro Burns.
Quiet mornings before the storm of racing
EVERYONE IN THE CAR
Preparation is everything
LESS GOOO
RACING TIME!
Ruaridh moving with purpose
It's Pedro Burns time!
Katy getting to it
Katy had a strong weekend, but is always looking for more
Katy is still recovering from a nagging injury, but made the best of her situation to come back with a solid top-10 in a really tight field.
Absolutely love Rotorua, the trails are awesome and NZ is a special place to me so it was awesome to race there. Not the start to the season I wanted of course. But, considering at the start of the year I couldn't sit never mind ride a bike without pain in my knee to be standing on the start line healthy was an achievement in itself. 8th is solid for where we are training wise and with several crashes... it's only going to get better from here as we get more training in the bag and I learn to stay on my bike ;) Building!
Katy always looking forward
Ruaridh always looking fast, showing a lifetime of skill and racing
Dang it's green in New Zealand
An untimely crash in stage two made things challenging for Ruaridh, but his eyes are already on his next opportunity.
Not the ideal start to the year but managed to dig deep after a big crash on stage 2 and salvage some good points. Happy with my speed and just need to clean things up ahead of next week in Tasmania.
What a nice guy!
Pedro on the way!
Always moving with purpose
Pedro is continuing with his second full season in the elite field, and continuing his upward rise in the ranks.
We had a great time in New Zealand. It's a really nice place and there is lots of good riding. During the week we were riding in the forest trying to get confortable to the conditions, and adjusting the last details on the bike. I came to NZ after winning Andes Pacifico and feeling good on my bike. I was excited because it was the first round and of course you want to have a good result. Race day was a bit different than the rest of the week, the night before we had rains, and the course got wet, the dirt was perfect but the roots were slippery. I had a solid day and ended the race in 27 overall. I am happy about my result and looking forward for the next round.
Always cool, always Pedro
The team now heads to Tasmania for the next round of Enduro World Series action, stay tuned for more!
