Despite some mechanical mishaps, Amon Burkill finished the second round of the Hard Enduro Championship in fine form.
The 18-kilometer track in Esk, Queensland, was one the Denman rider described as the best he has been on.
“It’s a lot of granite and shale kind of stuff, and lots and lots and lots of rocks, I don’t think there was any point where we were actually rolling on dirt,” Amon said.
“It was extremely technically based, but very relentless, there was very minimal breaks where you’d sort of get to catch your breath.
“It was quite warm too, so it was a matter of managing your cardio stress and trying to make accurate decisions when you’re completely fatigued.”
Prologue went well on Saturday when riders got the chance to test the course and set their starting positions for the second day of running.
Amon started out strong on Sunday, but not long in he had to become a bush mechanic.
“Twenty minutes into the main event on the Sunday I somehow managed to snap the start button, but I managed to find by chance a stick that was hollow that worked just perfectly to push the part inside that I needed to, otherwise I would have been out of the event,” he explained.
“Then towards the end in the last really difficult gold split, I destroyed my radiator fan, which saw the engine temperatures get to over 200 degrees, which is not ideal.”
Despite losing some time with these incidents, Amon completed both his laps of the pro class track in roughly three hours each which earned him second in class and 12th outright.
When discussing the difficult waterfall section of the track, the irony of Amon having such a risky hobby as a trained first responder came up.
“I generally don’t think about it at all, I find I am more in race mode,” the Denman Fire and Rescue Captain shared.
“It’s not lost on me, they tell you in the riders’ brief that if you are injured, it can take help hours to get to you.
“Generally that’s not really crossing my mind, it’s a combination of trying to maintain a steady heart rate and making accurate decisions.”
-JEM ANSHAW
