Angus Young to Finish GBduro on a Full-squisher After Freehub Failure…

Main photo by Breakaway Digital (@breakawaydigital)

Angus Young has been the fastest finisher on all three stages of the 2,000-kilometer GBduro over the past week, laying down two stage FKTs along the way and setting himself up for an overall win and perhaps a full route FKT to beat Lachlan Morton’s 2019 record. Today Angus’ hopes were almost dashed as his freehub completely seized up, leaving him helpless on the side of the trail. As luck would have it, a friendly dot watcher loaned Angus his full-suspension bike to finish the ride.

However, whether or not Angus’ finish time—record setting or otherwise—will stand is questionable at this point. The rules are slightly nebulous as many ultra-endurance race events require any support to be “unplanned” or “from commercially available sources.” GBduro’s own race manual states that no support, “from other riders or friends/family or make bookings in advance of the ride; all food, repairs, etc, must be acquired from commercial sources or from the kindness of strangers.” In my opinion, the latter kindness of strangers statement seems to theoretically legitimize it, but organizers are reviewing the facts and will make a decision regarding the legality of a bike swap shortly. If it is deemed officially acceptable, and Angus finishes the 380km Stage 4 in under 20 and a half hours, he’ll beat Lachlan’s 2019 course record of 111h:44m. At the time of this writing, he’s about 10 hours in. Follow along on the Tracker below…

We’re planning several updates during this year’s GBduro, so stay tuned. Check out the event Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map and watch for updates. Find it here.

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