A successful debut for the two-day pairs race in Ljubljana, plus an excellent turnout by the youngest riders at the Mini Enduro. Two days of dusty smiles in Podutik and on Golovec.
Enduro riders have already raced eight times on the Golovec trails, situated very close to Ljubljana city centre, as members of the club of the same name first organised an enduro race here in 2018. It has been part of SloEnduro since 2019, and part of the Ljubljana MTB Vikend festival since its very first edition in 2020.
Duo
But this time, they reinvented the rules of the game. They added ‘DUO’ to the event’s name, signifying a pairs race. Each rider has their own timing transponder. The times of both team members are added together. Five special stages awaited the participants over two days – two on Saturday at the Ljubljana Bike Park on the other side of the city, and three more on Sunday ‘at home’ on Golovec. There was no official practice time, but there was an unlimited number of runs within the time limit.
Four categories were announced – three age categories based on the combined age of both team members (under 40, 40 to 80, and over 80) and a mixed pairs category. Not insignificantly: this time, participants on e-bikes were able to compete alongside those without motorised assistance.
Fifty-two teams of two took part, coming from all over Slovenia, from Croatia and Italy. Some skilfully chose a partner of the right age so that they were, for example, the youngest in their category. On the course, the teams employed various tactics to achieve the best possible results. Some simply completed as many laps as possible on their e-bikes. Others even tried out different bikes. Some finished on the podium, others didn’t, but everyone spent the weekend on their bikes and in good company.
Just before the podium, by popular demand, the organisers added an ‘over 100 years’ category.
Category Winners
U40: Jakob Lorber / Maks Struna (fastest overall)
40-80: Tim Krašovec / Kostja Matijevec Jerman
80+: Oliver Ristič / Iztok Slapnik
100+: Grega Nagode / Aleš Pelcar
Mixed: Rok Bregar / Teja Cerar
DUO SloEnduro Golovec Trails Results
Mini Enduro
One of the highlights of the festival was undoubtedly the Mini Enduro children’s race on Sunday, held on two selected trails and supervised by Golovec Trails coaches. A total of 27 children aged between 5 and 10 took part. There were almost as many girls as boys! All were still too young for the U13 category, the youngest in the SloEnduro series.
At the end, all of them crowded onto the stage to receive their prizes.
You can find the Mini Enduro results here
What will Golovec Trails come up with next year, when THEY turn ten?!
Photos by Grega Stopar and Tit Košir
