IN
THE
WIND
P34
TEAMWORK PREVAILS AT
ERZBERG HARE SCRAMBLES
T
he infamous Iron Giant in the
Austrian Alps set the scene
once again for the Erzberg
Rodeo, and true to form, the
hard enduro saw some of the
world's best compete for top
honors in the Red Bull Hare
Scrambles. But surprisingly, the
21st edition of the event saw
teamwork prevail as four riders
were jointly crowned winners,
and even more surprisingly, five-
time Erzberg champion Taddy
Blazusiak was not one of them.
Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis,
Andreas Lettenbichler and
Alfredo Gomez jointly shared the
victory and each took their turn
hoisting the famed trophy at the
finish line.
Karl Katoch, the man behind
the concept of the Erzberg Ro-
deo, promised riders they would
see the toughest course ever in
the 2015 running of the event,
and he made good on his word.
The course included a new sec-
tion dubbed "Downtown" which
proved to be unridable. As the
four-rider train bottlenecked at
the daunting uphill section, they
decided the only way through
would be to pool their resourc-
es. After taking more than an
hour to reach the top, the orga-
nizers decided to remove the
last checkpoint near the end.
The four riders rode together to
the finish in just under the four-
hour time limit.
"It was a really tough one,"
Lettenbichler said. "This is my
10th edition and today was the
hardest. This one 'Downtown'
section was impossible to ride
From bar-banging
to hand-holding, the
leaders were forced to
dramatically change
their tactics in order to
reach the finish.
