It’s known as the Olympics of motorcycling, the International Six Days of Enduro.
And this week, four young South Island riders are set to make history, becoming the youngest New Zealand team ever to line up in the Junior Trophy which has the world’s best under 23 riders.
The gruelling endurance event has been running for more than a century. Nearly two decades ago, Taupō hosted the competition but this time the spotlight is on Bergamo, Italy, where riders will face brutal summer heat and unforgiving terrain.
The Kiwi juniors Jonty Richards, Blake Affleck, Dylan Huddleston and Thomas Easton have been training over the last six months in preparation and had a training camp in Central Otago just before they departed for Italy, but admit the change in conditions will be another level.
“That’s probably going to be one of our biggest problem, being from the South island!” Richards said.
Affleck added: “When we were training, we were racing our bikes with jackets on and just racing our guts out.”
Competitors cover around 220 kilometres a day, spending about eight hours in the saddle for six days straight.
“It’s going to be very hard to stay concentrated throughout the whole day” said Huddleston. “Slips ups come, you start crashing, then doing dumb stuff, so that will be the hardest part because you’ve got to be concentrated the whole day!”
But it’s not just the riding that breaks them, the rules do too.
At the end of each day, riders are given just 15 minutes to service their bikes, and every repair must be done by the competitor themselves – no mechanics, no outside help.
Affleck says they’ve been drilling the process.
“We’ve been training hard changing tyres got it down to two minutes!”
The Kiwi quartet will take on the world’s best under-23 riders in the Junior Trophy category. Their team manager, Kylie Dorr, knows exactly what lies ahead as she captained New Zealand’s first women’s team last year.
“For these boys, this will be the hardest thing they’ve ever done in their life. Physically it’s extremely difficult, mentally, it’s next level!”
And the statistics back her up. Each year, dozens of riders fail to finish in some editions.
Still, the young Kiwis are tackling the challenge head on.
“Nah, should be right,” Affleck laughed. “To get first, first you’ve got to finish!” said Richards.
That cheeky confidence and plenty of grit might just be the key to surviving six brutal days in Bergamo.
