The brutal 13km course is made up of both natural and man-made terrain and competitors spend a gruelling four hours completing as many laps as possible.
The 2017 instalment of the event drew serious star competitors including Red Bull factory rider Wade Young (Sherco) who jetted in from his homeland of South Africa. Add in Spanish star Pol Tarres (Beta), Italian Michele Bosi (Beta) and Kiwi brothers Hamish and Angus MacDonald (Sherco), as well as 2016 Wildwood victor Mitch Harper (Husqvarna), and the field was incredibly strong.
Tarres sprinted to the early lead before Young took control of the race on lap three and marched off to a commanding lead, stretching the margin to a huge 27m12s on completion of his ninth and final lap to take a big victory.
Young’s domination of the event had him extremely close to lapping Tarres and Hamish Macdonald who finished second and third respectively.
“It was brutal and hard on the body,” Wade said following his win. “There were only really two hard sections but the whole track was super tight. There was no place to go flat out. There were some gnarly rock sections which was pretty sick.”
