A long day of racing in the heat and on great tracks in Gorjanci range. Also with fast international guests, and in the end a new set of National Enduro Champions.
In the men’s category, Vid Peršak (Unior-Sinter Factory Racing) defended the national enduro title, his eighth, while in the women’s category it was won for the first time by Maša Komel (KK Črn trn). In the other categories, it was no less interesting.
The organisers from the Zverinice club from Novo mesto prepared six stages (plus a “power stage” for the e-bike category). Two of the stages were completely new. In total, the long course had around 1300 vertical metres of climbs and descents, and more than 15 minutes of “net” racing for even the fastest riders.
After the rain showers, the course completely dried for the race and the temperatures were quite summer-like, so water refreshment stations came in very handy for everyone.
About 200 cyclists came to Dolenjska region to compete. Most of them were Slovenians, who could also count on medals and titles from the twelfth national championship in the discipline, but there were also a few international guest, some of whom were also chasing the World Series Qualifier points. In addition to Slovenia, the start list also included riders from Austria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary and South Africa. The latter was represented by last year’s Gorjanci winner Keira Duncan, who was again among the top finishers.
Vid, Keira and Everyone Else
Among the men on the long course, the top three were separated right at the beginning. The experienced and favoured Peršak, last year’s winner Keira Duncan and SloEnduro champion Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh). Although Duncan won the first stage, Peršak took the lead with a win in the second, the South African came close again with a win in the third, and then Peršak escaped with two more victories, winning the race with a 3.58 second advantage over Duncan. Smrdel, who took the stage win in the last stage, was able to celebrate his third place overall and the silver medal of the national championship, 20.61 seconds behind Peršak.
The bronze of the national championship went to David Ivartnik (Golovec Trails), fourth in the overall classification, who only returned to racing last weekend after an elbow surgery. David was on the heels of the fastest trio in four stages, twice ahead of Smrdel, but lost some time in other two. Fifth overall in the men’s long course competition was Jan Markič (UC Caprivesi), the 2019 champion, who is rarely seen in SloEnduro due to racing in Italy.
“Maybe I would have set the suspension a bit differently now, I had some problems keeping the bike on the ground and keeping the ride smooth. I think I did a good job tactically, though, by riding in a controlled way and attacking where I needed to and where there was something to be gained. It was my first time here at Gorjanci and it was quite interesting, some of the riders already knew the terrain a bit from previous races, so I knew it was going to be a challenging day. The organisers did their best and prepared great stages,” said Vid, who has two World Cup races coming up in the next few weeks – still wearing the Slovenian tricolour on his left sleeve, as national champions are marked in gravity disciplines.
Tian’s Confirmation Among Juniors
The juniors were not as high in the overall this time as they were last week at SloEnduro Perkmandlc. The victory went to Hungarian Áron Babó (FRO Racing), who was 7th overall. He had a slower start and finish with a 6th and 5th place, but in between he won four stages – enough to win by 4.35 seconds from the new Slovenian junior champion Tian Pečnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem). Tian, who was the biggest surprise of last week’s SloEnduro Perkmandlc in Mežica with second place overall, his best ever result by far, proved that he can be fast elsewhere than on home terrain.
The silver medal among the juniors went to Maks Struna and the bronze to Juš Ažman, both members of KK Završnica from Žirovnica.
Maša to the Top as a Junior
Maša Komel is only in her second season in enduro, and in the absence of the last two years’ champion Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh), she didn’t allow any surprises to her rivals. She left one of the stages to Lucija Milinar (KK Ravne), but in the end she won with a big advantage over Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh) in second and Mlinar in third.
“The race was great, the courses were excellent. Last year we were all complaining a bit, but now they have really shaped them up to perfection. We enjoyed it,” says Maša, who is still a junior like Tina was when she won titles in the last two years. Both in SloEnduro and at the national championships the junior women are competing in a united category with the elite and master women.
Maša Komel will also compete this weekend at the National Downhill Championships and the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series race in Kranjska Gora.
In Long Course Categories
In the amateur category, Nejc Šikman (ŠD Grabit), already winner of two races this year, became the champion. In the youngest veteran category, master 1, Kamplc winner Blaž Černigoj (Kamplc Racing Team) returned after missing two races, in the intermediate category master 2 Primož Štrancar (Orbea Fox Enduro Team) raced for the first time this year and won, and in the oldest category master 3 Martin Brus (Kamplc) remains unbeaten this year.
On Shorter Courses
In the U17 categories, racing on five special stages, the two “dominators” remain at the top: Ian Laharnar (Kamplc) won the U17 male race for the fourth time this year among the 31 finishers, Lenart Sever (Črn trn) took silver and Sven Podvornik (427 Savage Squad) bronze; in the U17 female category race, Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne) also won for the fourth time, followed by Eva Zala Stergar (DGK Pohorje – Spank team) and Lana Kuzma (Črn trn).
In the U15 category, Jakob Praček (Kamplc) “hit back” after his second place in Mežica to win among 35 riders, Tine Furlan (Črn trn) was second and Maks Fošnarič (DGK Pohorje – Spank team) was third. In the U15 girls’ category, Eva Podvornik (427 Savage Squad) edged out Gaja Šuštar (Golovec trails).
In the youngest category U13 twelve boys competed, Rene Kovač (Kamplc) won ahead of Max Sliško (427 Savage Squad) and Jaka Vujasin (Rajd Ljubljana). The series leader Tjaž Stres retired after a crash in the first stage and his clubmate Rene dedicated the win to him.
Two more categories without national championship status: in the e-bike category Blaž Femc won, while in the 4Fun category, club mates from the Pedal Racing team Janko Bačnar and Jan Štucin shared the victory due to a timing error in the last stage, until which they were completely tied.
Shimano SuperStage
For the fourth time this year, the fastest female rider on the Shimano SuperStage was Nežka Libnik from the shorter course, while Keira Duncan won the “blue” stage, the first stage of the day, among the men.
All 2024 SloEnduro Gorjanci Results
All Slovenian National Enduro Champions (elite men, women)
- 2013 Javornik – Kristjan Medvešček (KK Črn trn), Ana Zupan (Energijateam.com)
- 2014 Jamnica – Peter Mlinar (KK Črn trn), Tanja Žakelj (Unior Tools Team)
- 2015 Cerkno – Vid Peršak (Orbea Enduro Crew), Nina Rupnik (MBK SportR.si)
- 2016 Kamnik – Tadej Razpet (Pedal Racing Team)
- 2017 Ajdovščina – Vid Peršak (Team Dorrong)
- 2018 Krvavec – Vid Peršak (Sunbikers Mondraker Enduro Racing), Ana Tancik (Energijateam.com)
- 2019 Krvavec – Jan Markič (ŠKTD Avče), Tina Perše (Calcit Bike Team)
- 2020 Kočevje – Vid Peršak (Orbea Fox Enduro Team), Tina Perše (Calcit Bike Team)
- 2021 Ajdovščina – Vid Peršak (Orbea Fox Enduro Team), Gaja Kravanja (KK Črn trn)
- 2022 Kope – Vid Peršak (Orbea Fox Enduro Team), Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh)
- 2023 Trbovlje – Vid Peršak (Orbea Fox Enduro Team), Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh)
- 2024 Novo mesto – Vid Peršak (Unior-Sinter Factory Racing), Maša Komel (KK Črn trn)
SloEnduro Standings After Round Four
After the date change of Maribor, the national championship fell right in the middle of the series – as the fourth of the seven races.
In the men’s standings, Vid Peršak is even more firmly in the lead with three wins and one second place with 1500 points, Miha Smrdel is second with 900 points and his clubmate Jernej Kavčič, who was sixth this time, is third with 780 points. In 4th place is the highest ranked junior Áron Babó with 735 points and in 5th place Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš), this time 8th, with 710 points. Both are close to third place.
In junior men, Pečnik moved into second place behind the leader Babó, with Struna in third.
In women’s ranking, Maša Komel has consolidated her lead over Lucija Mlinar, while Maja Vojska has moved into third place and is now only 20 points behind Mlinar.
In the U17 categories, Ian Laharnar and Nežka Libnik are of course firmly on top with maximum points.
All SloEnduro Standings
Next in SloEnduro…
Summer break! Round five will take place on 31 August and 1 September, it will be the first SloEnduro Maribor-Pohorje. More here soon.
Photos by Matej Lovrič
