Enduro Cup organizers worked closely with athletes to gather their feedback and make a final race that would challenge and excite. Adding longer stages and steeper, more technical terrain, athletes tackled approximately 10 miles of trails and over 4,700 vertical descending feet of sharp switchbacks and multiple technical downhills.
“With additions and edits to the Canyons course, we’ve designed the most challenging and rewarding event of our series,” said Enduro Cup Founder Ali Goulet. “The steep, technical and fast trails required every ounce of a rider’s skill.”
The competition began with the Open Men’s division. Utah-based Mitch Ropelato executed the technical sections of the course with fluidity and skill to receive a time of 21:20.9. Canyons local Cody Kelley secured the second fastest time at 21:51.9. Kyle Warner rounded out the podium with a time of 22:01.4.
“The trails were really fun and physical,” said Ropelato. “It was technical, you had to be on your game.”
Canyons Stop Open Men:
Mitch Ropelato (21:20.9)
Cody Kelley (21:51.9)
Kyle Warner (22:01.4)
Next, in the Open Women’s category, enduro racing newcomer Anne Galyean crushed the four stages with a total time of 26:32.0. Nearly missing second place was Teal Stetson-Lee at 26:39.8. Finally, only four-tenths of a second behind Stetson-Lee was Ileana Anderson.
“I liked the course a lot, I thought it had a good variety,” Galyean said. “Especially in the states, enduro can swing way too far to the pedaling or way too far to the downhill. This one had a lot of great variety—some of everything. It was a lot of fun.”
Canyons Stop Open Women:
Anne Galyean (26:32.0)
Teal Stetson-Lee (26:39.8)
Ileana Anderson (26:40.2)
By maintaining consistent finishes at all three stops, Utah-local Cody Kelley earned the overall championship in the Men’s Open division. He narrowly beat out Vittoria athlete Macky Franklin.
“It was the goal for the year,” said 21-year-old Kelley about the overall series title. “I’m stoked. I had tons of fun on this course. The Downhill track was pretty gnarly so it tested everyone’s skills. You really had to be a good bike handler.”
Men’s Open Top 3 Overall
1. Cody Kelley, 336 points
2. Macky Franklin, 330 points
3. Bart Gillespie, 282 points
With three podiums (two 2nd places and one 1st place) Reno-based Teal Stetson-Lee secured the Women’s Open overall title. Even though she got second at Canyons, she was pleased by her performance. “I had a clean race,” she said. “All of my stages were smooth, didn’t have any mistakes.”
Only her first year on the SCOTT team, Stetson-Lee has not been known for her enduro racing—until now. At the Canyons race, she won stage 4, arguably the most technical of all of the 2015 stages. “I won by 5 seconds,” she said. “I shocked myself since my background is cross country. I’m really glad it was a stage today because it made racing more dynamic.”
Women’s Open Top 3 Overall
1. Teal Stetson-Lee, 414 points
2. Ileanna Anderson, 318 points
3. Syd Schulz, 300 points
For more on the series, visit endurocupmtb.com
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