Chris Roberts - The Mini Enduro Interview

Hot off the back of last weekends One Industries Mini Enduro we sent head honcho of Naked Racing, Chris Roberts over the burning questions on everyones lips about the event.

Hi Chris, Thanks for taking time out from your Ice cream to talk to us...

Hi there... No Worries!

This is the first time you have held an event at Haldon Forest, how did you think the trails and venue held up for the event?

The big question was what would people think of the trails, I rode them before Christmas on a cold and wet day with Andy from One Industries. We had such a fun time I knew people would like to race on them. We did make a last minute change on the final stage because the original one was to muddy! I would like to say a big thank you to the local trail builders for what they have created in Haldon.

Do think the Mini Enduro series will return to Haldon Forest?

Yes most definitely! Everyone seemed to love the off piste trails, we might have to find few variations for next time but I really like the place and the Forestry Commission rangers are a pleasure to work with so a big thank you to Andy, Gemma and the team.

It was great for the sport and the series to see the Atherton's at round one of the Mini Enduro Series, do you think we will see them at round two?

It was great to see them racing and they really did create a good buzz for the spectators who turned out in the rain to see them. Dan being the first rider on track got to test the timing for us on each stage and ended up doing the all the stages twice. He took it all in good sprit like a true sportsman. I would like to think we will see them again next year.

With a new event there are always going to be teething problems, what did you learn from the event and what might you change for future races?

This was our first Enduro race so there was a lot to learn, I had been to a few enduro races and raced the super enduro in Italy last year so I had a good idea of what I wanted for the race.

There are some improvements that I want to carry out to make the race into more of an event but that's for the future.

We had planned every little thing we thought we need to do.  Small details like start times at the top of each stage so riders could easily check what time they need to be at the next stage. Next time we will put maps at the end of each stage showing the route to the next stage.

Signage. We choose a route that followed the Red and blue routes to get around with arrows posted up at junctions to follow. A few riders missed the arrows so the next race we will have some larger arrows printed!

Timing. We had a couple of issues both my fault, we set stage one up with live timing using the laptop so we did not need to download the results for that stage. I forgot to plug in into the generator and it went flat with only 15 riders left to go, then the girls had problems with the synchronisation of the two timers top & bottom which lead to a delay.

We couldn't get the Stage 3 times to download from the timer. All that was required was to change 1 setting in the timer so it could talk to the computer once and we had done that it took 3 seconds to download but by then everyone was on the way home.
Lots of valuable lessons learnt and we certainly won't be making that timing mistake again!!

There were a few moans and groans from competitors about riders taking short cuts to stages, rather then riding the marked route to the next stage. What are your thoughts on this?

Yes I think this is down to local knowledge. We planned a route for everyone to follow in a big loop but some riders took a shorter route which took them down some extra off piste tracks so they missed out on the extra fun on those trails.

The transitions were very generous with 1/2 hour between each stage so there was no real need to cut the course short.

Overall the feedback seemed very positive from the riders on the day. I guess the next question will there be any more mini enduro races later this year?

After this race most definitely yes! This was a tough weekend but looking at the comments and feedback everyone wants more.
We have a short list of venues and dates we are looking at. The big thing with Enduro is time, you need local riders and local knowledge for the best tracks, then work out the best route and try to avoid any short cuts between stages and to have it so you can practice in the morning and race in the afternoon.

I think its a real balance between how long the stages are and how long the loop should be, I think around the 10 to 15 miles is about right but then again that does depend on the terrain.

After looking at the feedback we are so pleased everyone had a good time racing the Mini Enduro but we could not have done it with out the help of the 20 marshals from Exeter Uni and a few locals trail builders, the medics, the 3 British Cycling commissaries, Haldon Forestry, everyone else who helped and One Industries for sponsoring the race.

Did you race the Mini Enduro? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Photo Credit - Chris Davison and Will Hodges