Gas Gas UK’s Danny McCanney has finished an excellent third place at the 2013 Tough One extreme enduro, held at the Nantmawr Quarry near Oswestry in Wales. McCanney finished just 12 minutes behind extreme legend Graham Jarvis and three minutes behind Jonny Walker.

McCanney went to this the first international extreme enduro of the season, held in freezing conditions, as a training exercise for the Enduro World Championship season to come, with expectations no higher than a top-10 finish. Yet after a cautious start McCanney rode better and better, pulling through the field, leaving it to the final –12th – lap to overhaul Paul Bolton for the final podium position.

McCanney’s Gas Gas UK team-mates also found a way to enjoy this grueling three-hour test of skill and stamina. Alex Wigg had aced the traditional running race up the hill to the start grid and so held the initial lead, but an early crash in the boulder section saw him have to pit to replace a broken gear lever, falling to 22nd place. Alex fought on, though, to claim a well-earned 11th place finish. Third member of the team, Jack Lee claimed 18th position.

Danny McCanney: “I wanted to come back to give this another go. I had a first attempt at it last year and was lying second before I had problems, so I wanted to see what I could do if I had a clear run.

“I was relieved that it wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be but the course was still eased because of the conditions and I think this suited me. It was still tough going and you could never relax, even the fields were super-slippery. I felt fit and the three hours wasn’t a problem – I was able to push really hard for the last lap, pulling back a lot of time on Paul Bolton and making third place. Extreme enduro isn’t really my kind of an event, but it’s something to do during the winter and today it was all worth the effort!”

Results

The Tough One 2013

1. Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) 12 laps, 03:05:02;

2. Jonny Walker (KTM) 12 laps, 03:13:56;

3. Danny McCanney (Gas Gas) 12 laps, 3.17:10;

11. Alex Wigg (Gas Gas) 11 laps

18. Jack Lee (Gas Gas) 9 laps