Jenks takes Corduroy Enduro

By Suzanne Howie

The 55th anniversary running of the Corduroy Enduro last weekend could be considered a mixed success.

While day one was seen as a great adventure for many, even the riders who got lost, the second day was trouble all around. More riders were lost, there were problems at the gas stops and time issues. All in all, however, when asked after the race if they would return again next year, many riders said they would consider coming back.

Robbie Jenks placed first overall on both days. He was followed by Brian Wojnarowski and Aan Randt on day one, and Patrick Beaule and Wojnarowski on the second day.

Hosted by the WEC and a small army of volunteers, the Corduroy Enduro was off to a great start on Saturday morning. The sky was clear blue, with only a few fluffy white clouds; certainly a change from the rain and gloom of Parry Sound.

Riders left in waves of three, every 60 seconds, for close to an hour, proving just how popular the event was.

While some riders struggled with the mud holes in the transfer sections, and others found Green Mountain a difficult climb (they climbed up both sides), the general consensus was that it was a well run day, and most of the riders found the event if not fun, challenging in a good way.

Now, there were two negative things to come out of an otherwise positive day. CMA Hare Scramble points leader, and favourite in the E2 class, Jake Stapleton, injured his wrist. While rumours abounded Saturday night that it was a fracture, Stapleton said it was nothing so serious.

The other negative came from a wrong turn. Riders on the 11th minute took a wrong turn on Saturday’s start and ended up riding a large portion of Sunday’s route. The trio of wayward riders eventually realized their mistake and doubled back, but by the time they arrived at the first test they were almost two hours late.

Saturday Results (from Corduroy website):
1 – Robbie Jenks (E3) – 3680 pts
2 – Brian Wojnarowski (E2) – 3701 pts
3 – Alan Randt (EV) – 3793 pts
4 – Guillane Provonost (E2) – 3859 pts
5 – Allan Lachapelle (E1) – 3988 pts
6 – Jonathan Ryan (E1) – 4223
7 – Denis Libersaw (EV) – 4272
8 – Chris Donald (EV) – 4522
9 – Tom Irwin (EV) – 4568
10 – Joseph Volpe (E1) – 4572

Sunday didn’t go so smoothly, as there were more riders lost, and lots of downed bikes due to high water and mud levels. In some sections of trail riders had no choice but to venture into mud holes of unknown depth and hope for the best. More than one bike sucked in water and was done for the day, and many hare scramble riders will be spending the next two weeks cleaning mud out of their motors and making repairs for Wheatley.

One rider, E1 Pro rider Torin Linton, even spent an hour and 45 minutes pushing his bike through the muddy trails after it sucked in mud and watered out approximately 13km into the race.

The biggest disaster of Sunday, however, had to be the gas truck not showing up to Gas Stop #2. Now, given the length of this race, and that riders were pushing themselves and their machines just to keep time, for the gas truck to not show was very distressing to the participants who were depending on it.

However, with only a few minor injuries and no serious destruction, Sunday can be called a draw.

Sunday Results (from Corduroy website):
1 – Robbie Jenks (E3) – 3428
2 – Patrick Beaule (E3) – 3463
3 – Brian Wojnarowski (E2) – 3652
4 – Kevin Cockayne (EJ) – 3929
5 – Chris Donald (EV) – 3954
6 – Alan Randt (EV) – 3985
7 – Tyler Linton – (E2) – 3985
8 – Jonathan Ryan (E1) – 3990
9 – Therry Lacombe (E2) – 4133
10 – Denis Libersaw (EV) – 4187