Macapaz conquers 1st Sen. Bato Nat'l Open Enduro Championships

'Red Bull Romaniacs' like enduro held in Davao attracts nearly 1,500 participants

Close to 1,500 riders from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao gathered in Davao City last April 30 to May 1, 2022, for the 1^st Sen. Bato National Open Enduro Championships.

_{Enduro Factory rider Al Aragon finished the Ironman Bronze category after 12 hours of hard enduro}

The event was named after Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who is also a hard enduro rider and enthusiast. Two teams represented Luzon led by Pao Toral and Enduro Factory, and another team from Rizal led by Snooky Cruz.

The two-day event tested riders to their limits with its close to 120-kilometers of hard enduro terrain, which was made even more complicated by the torrential rains.

_{Photo by Dave Macapaz}

For the coveted Ironman Gold category (individual, no help), Davao rider, Dave Macapaz emerged as the champion, finishing the grueling 120-kilometer enduro race (in severe weather) in more or less 4 hours riding a 2018 Husqvarna TE 300 enduro bike. He also took home the PHP60,000 grand prize.

Like Romaniacs

One of Enduro Factory’s riders, Woo Kyungsun, who hails from South Korea, commented that the 1^st Sen. Bato National Open Enduro Championships was one of the hardest that he had experienced, so hard he says that the level of difficulty is already comparable to the RedBull Romaniacs – an annual hard enduro event that attracts thousands of riders from all over the world and is considered one of the toughest in the World Enduro Super Series (WESS) calendar. Graham Jarvis and Manuel Lettenbichler all became legends after becoming a Romaniacs champions.

The Sen. Bato National Open Enduro Championships was organized by X-Treme Enduro Davao and led by race director Walton Gonzales, who together with his team, pulled off the impossible with just a little over a month of preparation.

_{Photo by Al Aragon}

“We organized this national race with the main objective of providing an event that would raise the bar of competition, camaraderie, and fun & prizes. We came up with a track worthy of a race of national level and a venue with activities where racers and spectators could enjoy good food, drinks, shop motorcycles and gears, and other events. All this within a limited preparation time of a little over a month,” said the organizing team through their official social media page.

The Sen. Bato National Open Enduro Championships will be back again next year bigger and more extreme!

Congratulations participants and organizers!