Serious RTC Survivor Completes UK’s Toughest Enduro

A biker and events company founder has well and truly bounced back this month, by completing the gruelling Dawn to Dusk Enduro race in Wales.

Gareth Bright is the former Triumph Global Events manager and now runs his own events company, Woodcote Events. After two serious bike accidents, both of which left him with life-changing injuries and a lengthy recovery time, he was determined to get back in the saddle and to push himself physically and mentally. Gareth formed a two-rider team with experienced on and off-road racer Virgil Stevenson, and they took on the UK’s toughest enduro event, often nicknamed “The Daddy”.

Staged in the Brecon Beacons, Wales, the event sees teams of riders taking on a gruelling 16-mile off-road lap, racing for 12 hours from dawn till dusk. And it wasn’t plain sailing for any of the riders, as heavy summer rainfall (it is in Wales after all!) created conditions that event organiser and former Dakar racer, Nick Plumb, described as “the most challenging conditions we've seen in over 20 years.” Gareth and his team didn’t let that dampen their spirits though, pushing on throughout the event to take Team Woodcote Events to 37th place out of 192 competitors overall, and 26th place out of the 41 two-man teams which entered.

Speaking after the race, Gareth said:

“I deeply regret not being able to train as much as I wanted to due to our busiest season yet at Woodcote Events ... We’ve been working six to seven days a week since April, so my training took a back seat. It dawned on me very quickly just how tough this race was going to be when I completed a practice lap on the Saturday, but finishing it under those conditions, with little practice and being an off-road novice, is something I’m proud of. The course was far more advanced than I had anticipated. I’m not going to lie, I was petrified!”