Maramarua 3 Day Enduro

 
Grange Associates Ltd - 16 February 2012

The Maramarua 3 Day Enduro (m3de) is New Zealand’s only multi day enduro event and it is organized by Power Adventures Ltd. 
 

Enduro are usually single day races which are similar in form to car rallying (ie WRC) but for dirt bikes. Not the bikes New Zealanders such as the fearless Nick Franklin and Levi Sherwood use to throw back flips over huge jumps; nor the bikes that guys like Peter Broxholme, Blake Gillard and of course Ben Townley use to rail the berms on motocross tracks all over the world; but dirt bikes with headlights that are flown over tight forest trails at warp like speeds by local pilots such as Christopher Power, Karl Power, Reece Burgess and Chris Birch, to name a few.  One small mistake and an instant introduction to the nearest 20 year old pine tree is assured.

At the 2011 m3de, the riders covered just under 700kms over the 3 days at an average speed of around 30kph.  On each day they needed to make checkpoints at designated times (too early or too late and they were penalised), race through 6 or 7 timed special tests (just like rally cars do) and spend no more than 15 minutes servicing their bike before getting it into parc ferme for safe keeping until 7am the next morning, when it all started over again. The winner was the rider who managed to be penalised the least for time infringements while completing the special tests in the quickest cumulative time.

It’s really something to see the riders rushing from a full day’s riding to remove their back wheel, change the tyre, reinstall the wheel, repeat for the front wheel, change the oil, fit a new air filter, fix damage from any mishaps during the day and push their bike into the lock up - all in under 15 minutes and with no outside assistance!

Both guys and girls compete and their ages range from youth to into the 50’s.  Tom Brian (yes, related) is the event’s youngest finisher when he competed in 2009 at the age of 13.  The m3de is an excellent introduction to multi day events with riders going on to race the Australian 4 day (A4DE) and the international 6 day (ISDE). The annual ISDE was in New Zealand in 2006 and since then teams have travelled to Chile, Greece, Portugal, Mexico and Finland to race.  The other international multiday event that everyone is busting to get to is the Red Bull Romaniacs. 

Anyway, m3de is an awesome event that Grange Associates Ltd loves being associated with and one that we really want to share with you.

 
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