| Fadhil Yunus |
THE Royal Brunei Enduro 2017 has the right ingredients of putting Brunei Darussalam in the map for mountain biking as one if not the most prestigious competition in the region which will take place from September 30-October 1 at Tasek Serubing and Subok.
Following the footsteps of Nepal and Chiang Mai from previous legs of the endurance-challenged race, Brunei will be making its much-anticipated debut in the third chapter of the series.
Enduro refers to a cyclist who holds the fastest combined time of all the stages declared as the winner.
Royal Brunei is the title sponsor for the race and the RB Enduro Series follows a format from the Asian Enduro Series.
“The Asian Enduro Series is a brainchild of all the riders around Asia and this year alone it starts in Nepal and it moves to other parts of Asia,” said Isyraq Zakiran, Administration and Marketing of Kingdom Rides and Adventures in an interview with the Bulletin during the welcoming dinner on Wednesday.
Brunei’s popularity in mountain biking competitions is not exempted in the past but the introduction of the Enduro series will bring a new landscape and generate considerable interest especially among the local mountain biking community.
There have been efforts to popularise the concept of mountain biking in the past and the response has been fair evident with the good number of riders in the country.
“In Brunei’s mountain biking scene, there have been quite a number of activities in mountain biking in the past. There are also quite a few races being done in Brunei and the race usually encompasses different categories or mountain biking categories let’s say cross country.”
“But for Enduro in Brunei this is being done on a much larger scale so it is the first time in Brunei,” Isyraq further added.
The Royal Brunei Enduro complies with rules and regulations made by Asian Enduro Series which also follows rules and regulations closely with Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and also the World Premier Enduro Series which is usually done in Europe.
“It’s basically still in an early stage but they’re working year in year to improve its prominence in the part of the region. They’re working closely to achieve the same prestige as the ones in Europe,” said Isyraq.
The idea of introducing the Asian Enduro Series to Brunei first came about when Jason Pickett, who runs and owns Kingdom Rides and Adventures, came to Brunei on vacation and saw the huge potential with the rise of mountain biking and the amount of trail potential within the country’s lush forests.
Jason, who is also active in participating in the Enduro competitions around the region, started networking with the influential people who are the brainchild of the Asian Enduro series.
Isyraq also explained the structure of the race whereby not all riders will complete all stages with the elite which comprises experienced riders being allocated eight stages, the maximum number of stages while the Weekend Warrior, another group including aficionados, compete in six stages.
The competition is also open to legends who are riders aged 45 and above, Feminino which represents the female event and prodigy who are teenagers.
He also added that the trail has been designed by personnel from the Kingdom Rides and Adventures with no use of machines with the help of the mountain biking community.
The trail was completed after almost a year which construction took place early last year.
“What makes it interesting is that these stages are very challenging I have to say and most people agree with that. I think that will make this race unique because it will test the riders. I think this challenging perception of our trail will definitely be one of the attractions to Brunei.”
In January, Kingdom Rides and Adventures organised a Fun Race which comprised three or four stages with the aim of gauging the current situation with the trails where they attracted about 30 to 40 participants which comprised mostly local entrants.
After the race, the feedback provided was crucial in determining whether improvements could be made in the trails which in turn opened up to a lot of ideas and opportunities where these trail builders roamed around the forest looking for more potential trails.
“If we see potential trail, we market and we talk to the community leaders around the area basically the Subok Belimbing area. If we get the blessings and the green light, it’s a go. So we’re working on that every week.”
The Royal Brunei Enduro Series will also be attracting international riders, most notably Florent Poilane, a French national currently based in Vietnam.
Florent is well revered among the mountain biking community and is one of the most influential people behind the Asian Enduro Series.
The race has received an overwhelming response with a steady number of participants for both the local and foreign riders.
“Since we see this race still at an infancy stage, we’re not expecting a huge number of international participants because we were having a perception in the first place that there is not going to be too many participants.
“But we’re actually surprised. For locals, we were expecting 30 but to our surprise we have more than 30. For international, maybe we were expecting 10-15 riders but we have solid 20-30 riders.
“We have a rider from India which is interesting because the rider is a teenager who is contesting in the prodigy event.”
There will be a practice session for all the participants today and Isyraq said that ideally a common rider will walk the track which is integral to familiarise the route of the trail.
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