(EN) Highlights of the longest hard enduro rallye

Limitless : Edition 21, July 23-27. 2024

Sibiu, Romania 19 August 2023 - Red Bull Romaniacs, ‘The Impossible’, Edition 20 was one for the books, the Carpathian mountains certainly delivered. Competitors from all classes were exposed to the stunning scenery, a wide variety of tracks and classic mountain weather and for those who reached the finish it was an edition that really stood out.

Gura Râului Dam finish Offroad Day 1.

Navigation and endurance through all extremes are two factors that will win this four day Offroad rallye and Mani Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM) proved this by making no mistakes and battling hard through the torrential storm on Offroad Day 1, establishing himself a large lead right from the start. Time differences at the finish of the four Offroad Days can typically be only minutes, this year Lettenbichler came in with a huge 1h9m59s lead time over his second rival Trystan Hart (CAN, KTM) and 1h24m1s over Teo Kabachiev (BGR, Econt) in third position.

The Gold competitors tackled the tough sections with a speed and ferocity demonstrating an almost ‘bionic era’ with riding levels reaching new highs. The ‘up and coming' generation are coming into the Red Bull Romaniacs without fear and a willingness to do whatever is required to reach the top, pushing their bikes over sheer rock faces is part of their day, these athletes will fight till the end and do whatever it takes to be rewarded with a spot on the Romaniacs podium. This presents some questions to Martin Freinademetz, the founder of Romaniacs and also a leader in the progression of the sport:

What is the toughest part of organising such a large rallye for so many nations competing?

Martin: “With such a long, hard enduro rallye, five full days of racing and so many competitors we need more departments working in order to provide a really great adventure for our participants. Starting with the racetracks, having five different classes the idea is to give each class their own race track with as few as possible common tracks so each class has the right difficulty for their level, so they are not too easy and not too hard with a good balance. We have to provide some ways around the more difficult sections so that there are no queues building up. Track Director, Teo Isaac, defines the tracks during the whole year and then the track managers go out to clear and mark it, this is a big task with so many kilometres of tracks.

A very important topic is the permissions required from the relevant authorities, farmers, forest owners, communities and stakeholders involved in any way with our competition.

Information and coordination of all the participants from around the world is a complex area. We need to have the right communication tools, having the website with all the information required so that participants know what they need to do in order to prepare themselves for the race and during the race they need to be able to find the information they require such as starting times, race times, competitor profiles, photo service etc.

Finding and coordinating more than five hundred helpers is another big task. Some examples are; rescue teams, timekeeping, race control centre, bike supplies, media coordination, openers, sweepers, danger points are just a few of the many teams we have in place.

And then there is the allocation of partners and sponsors and coordinating with them for branding placement on the tracks and media for them.”

What are the biggest changes in terms of race development and infrastructure over the years?

Martin: “Changes in race development are huge over the past 20 years. Not only the bike technology, the tyres, mousses etc. have got much better and the competitor skill levels have been rising but also technology has improved.

In 2004 we hardly had any telephone signal and sending data from the tracks was almost impossible, we had to compress down to KB and not to MB or GB like nowadays, with that a lot has changed. Our timekeeping was using a basic excel sheets system and is now fully automated and race progress is visible live online and the same for media. We used to only have magazines and TV. With transmission and live streaming via GSM or satellite now it makes a lot more possible than in the early days. Transmission time for sending data is always getting faster and enables us to deliver our live streaming of LIVEmaniacs and LIVEnews to the website in real time directly from the tracks to the viewers.”

Is it becoming challenging to create racetracks for the Gold Class when the levels are so high now?

Martin: “It is getting more difficult to create tracks for the Gold class competitors. We are trying to avoid fast tracks where risks of crashing at high speeds leaves higher risks for injuries while more technical terrain is less risky and pushes the skill level. It's not easy to find the right sections we don't want to be on terrain where there might be falling rocks or sections where the competitor could fall down something steep so it's challenging to find racetracks to keep the level high but at the same time safe.”

Will the tracks just keep getting tougher or how do you see extreme hard enduro progressing in the future?

Martin: “The technical difficulty levels have been rising every year. We can still increase the level more in the future, there's still room for tracks to get a little bit tougher, I do not think we've reached a level where it is ‘too much’ yet. So we can still make some small steps in the future, however, in another 20 years we may not find tracks that are hard enough and if everybody is racing with only seconds between them in the tough sections then maybe we need to figure something new out then.”

Dominik Olszowy (POL).

From an elite competitors perspective what factors are at the forefront of such an intense four day rallye and how far can athletes push themselves before it becomes too far?

Mani Lettenbichler: “This year the Offroad Day 3 was the toughest day with the signature sections “Kill ‘em All, No Sex, Babysitter” . It was continuous up and down all day and was especially heavy following the first two Offroad Days.

It was really hard to recover physically after the big storm because there was a lot of pushing in the super slippery, muddy conditions which the body needed time to recover from. It becomes hard if your body can't get into a recovery mode after each day. Starting off the race with less challenging weather and less non stop technical terrain can give you more chances to get a rhythm going for your body, which helps with the endurance required for such a long week.”

Can the extreme hard enduro still get tougher?

Mani Lettenbichler: “The technical terrain is at a good level already. The extreme level of the sport right now is at a pretty good limit. It should not be made too crazy where it is technically dangerous, but if it needs to be harder then make the days longer and not too much steeper where we have to do more pushing, right now we’re already on such a good level.

Romaniacs is a really long physical week that requires more recovery time than the shorter events, it is a really big week of racing and endurance and takes time afterwards to recover from.”

Being an innovator in the evolution of extreme hard enduro it’ll be up to Martin Freinademetz and his team to create the balance between pushing skill levels and maintaining the reputation as the best toughest hard enduro rallye in the world.

Mani Lettenbichler and Trystan Hart at the finish.

The 2023 special Legends class highlighted competitors who have been a part of the event for five or more editions and successfully reached the finish line. In Silver Class seven of the eight legends finished and all in the top 100. Emanuel Gyenes #104 (ROU) has finished in all twenty editions and was the first Silver Legend, in position 11. In Bronze Class nine out of the fifteen Legends finished, with the first being Martin Lindtner #342 coming in position 21. The first legend to finish in Iron Class was Paul Mckie #706 (GBR) in position 39 while all five Iron Class Legend competitors reached the finish. In Atom Class Paul Philipp #901 (CAN) was the first of the two Legends and was in position 7.

In Bronze Class Romanian competitor, Maria Grigoras #581 (ROU) was the 2023 top female finisher, coming in position 22 overall. On Offroad Day 1 she was in position 16 but lost some time on Day 2 coming in 68, she fought hard and was able to regain 58 positions coming in position 10 on Offroad Day 3. Grigoras came in position 39 on day four giving her the overall position of 22 and top female Red Bull Romaniacs competitor in 2023.

The first female competitor to reach the Hillclimb finish arena on Offroad Day 4 was Tjaša Fifer #403 (SVN) who demonstrated a true battle after having to fix bike issues on Offroad Day 2. On Day 1 she came in position 13, but then fell to 165 on Day 2. Despite gaining an incredible 125 positions on Offroad Day 3, and coming in 15 on Offroad Day 4, it was not quite enough to give her the overall female win. But it was a mega display of a great sportsperson. It was her second year competing having won the Iron Class in 2021.

Sandra Gomez Cantero #15 (ESP, GAS GAS) did not finish in Gold Class and Kirsten Landman #192 (ZAF) had to retire due to injury on Offroad Day 2.

Kevin Gallas #595 (DEU) guided his Yamaha Tenere 700 through all four of the Offroad Days, despite losing his teammate Pol Tarres to injury on Offroad Day 2. Having faced challenges greater than ever before on his big bike, Gallas was happy to pass through the final arches in position 132.

Sonny Goggia (ITA).

Red Bull Romaniacs ‘Enduro for Romania’ charity project proudly presented a cheque for 40,000 RON this year to the Oncology Support Centre by 'Sus Inima' Association. The charity has raised funds to support and give back to those who need it the most since 2016.

Team MISSION RACE -Race Against Cancer Enduro from Germany donated one third of their raised funds to Enduro for Romania for the ‘Sus Inima’ Association. The team members included Marcel Michitsch, who was racing with one prosthetic leg, Sebastian "Busty" Wolter, a former freestyle legend, Martin Schoppe and Thorsten Kirchhoff. The four man team raised funds for Cancer while partaking in their memorable 2023 Romaniacs adventure.

Dominik Olszowy (POL) and Trystan Hart (CAN).

Looking to the future and always working for the betterment of the sport, Red Bull Romaniacs aspires to work in harmony with the environment and while hosting the adventure of a lifetime for competitors from around the globe and contributing greatly to the region's tourism industry, there has always been a strong focus on giving back to the local communities and minimising adverse effects on the environment. Our teams minimise waste and ensure proper disposal and recycling of all materials used during the event. We are also developing an environmental plan to ensure that we are reaching our utmost sustainability throughout the event. Part of this year's charity funds raised will go towards environmental educational projects, starting with educating rural community youth about garbage collection and protecting the local environments from waste.

With the twenty year anniversary behind him, Martin Freinademetz is already onto 2024 preparations. The dates are set and the demarcation of ‘The Impossible’ tracks is complete. Teo Isaac is out scouting for potential new tracks and so it continues.

Red Bull Romaniacs dates are set for the Edition 21; July 23-27. 2024 in Sibiu, Romania.

Edition 21 will be named Limitless, already covering distances of over 400 kilometres of Offroad tracks and elevations equivalent to three times that of Everest, up to 30,000 metres, competitors are presented with limitless up and downhill sections and vast areas of high alpine landscape showcasing the spectacular scenery of the Carpathians. Limitless will once again push the bar and bring rise to new talent and see head to head battles of the greats.

The Impossible overview: 2023 saw Mani Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM) ride to glory with his fourth win at Red Bull Romaniacs, he demonstrated incredible speed and endurance and a 1h9m59s lead over Trystan Hart (CAN, KTM) who came in second at his third ever Red Bull Romaniacs making him the first Canadian to stand on the Gold podium. Teo Kabachiev (BGR, Econt) who had the fastest times on Offroad Day 2 and 4 was a close third, having made up incredible times after a navigational error on Day 1, it’s his second Red Bull Romaniacs podium.

The next stage of the FIM World Hard Enduro Championships will be at the Badlands in Canada for the Red Bull Outliers. Mani Lettenbichler dominates with three wins so far and his goal will be to have a clean sweep. Trystan Hart, sitting in second position, will be hoping to take the win on his home turf. Billy Bolt in third and only two points behind Hart, will have other ideas, as will Teo Kabakchiev who is on fire and poses a real threat. Matthew Green (ZAF) was able to put in a stellar performance at Red Bull Romaniacs finishing in position 10 overall and holding onto his lead in the Junior FIM World Hard Enduro Championship.

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