This weekend, 22-23 June, at Gabrje, not far from town of Novo mesto, Slovenia: the fourth edition of SloEnduro Gorjanci organised by the Zverinice club and the twelfth edition of Slovenian National Enduro Championship.
The event will again be based at the hunter’s lodge near Gabrje. Between the lodge and Trdinov vrh top, the organizers have prepared trails worthy of the fight for the national championship medals and jerseys.
The long course will include six special stages with a total of 1320 vertical meters, and of course an additional uphill stage for the e-bike category. Less climbing and descending on the shorter courses down to the three stages race for the youngest U13 category with 380 vertical meters.
Some familiar and some new trails in the mix. The new ones are S1 – “Biciklama” (Shimano SuperStage) and S2 – “Lipa naša”.
The course is presented here:
SloEnduro Gorjanci 2024 | Nationals & WSQ Course Map
The field
It will be tense for men. Defending champion Vid Peršak (Unior – inter), also the series leader, is looking for his eighth title, fifth in a row. Fun fact: Vid never raced in Gorjanci yet!
Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) already has three overall titles in the SloEnduro series, but no national title, so he will grit his teeth and forget about the pain. The last champion who is not Peršak is also coming – Jan Markič (UC Caprivesi), our “temporary worker abroad”, in Italy, the 2019 champion. Some of the locals can mix it up at the top, and to make it more varied, the lat year’s winner of Gorjanci, South African Keira Duncan, is returning, as well as some of the international riders on the hunt for points for the WSQ ranking.
Unfortunately, Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) will not be defending her women’s title, as she still has some graduation commitments. The main contender will be Maša Komel (KK Črn trn), but as it was shown last weekend in Mežica, past achievements are no guarantee for success in enduro.
Among the junior men, Maj Babačič (Calcit Bike Team) returns for the national enduro championship, he is focusing more on downhill, but he will not have an easy time with Tian Pečnik (KK Ravne) and Maks Struna (KK Završnica), who are on fire. Ian Laharnar (Kamplc Racing Team) dominates the U17 boys, but he had a nail-biter in Mežica. Matija Lačen (KK Črn trn) was injured last weekend and will not be in Dolenjska. In the U15 boys, the leader Jakob Praček (Kamplc) will probably be interested to see if his namesake Pristovnik (Ravne), who gave him a lesson on home ground, can be fast elsewhere.
List of entries
When?
Nothing new in the schedule. Practice on Saturday from 11am, race on Sunday from 9.30am.
Course presentation
Live timing on Sunday on timing.sportident.com
Weather
Sunny on Saturday with temperatures near 30, a bit cloudy on Sunday, below 25 degrees, possible thunderstorms.
