“If you build it they will come” is an often quoted film reference, that really does fit MadRon very nicely. MadRon is a youngster with awesome skills – a fully formed event with a solid core of skills, knowledge and financial history. Recognising when you have the skills but not the gravity to drive the business plan hard enough is frustrating, realising that you need help is even harder. Organising MadRon is all about the love of extreme enduro, it’s the excuse to ride every day for weeks on end, it’s about the challenging riding and giving back to the local economy. It is most definitely not about the money. But as long as we can repair our bikes, pay for our meals, put fuel in the tanks and run the machinery to create the miles and miles of new extreme routes, despite being tired and sore we are a very happy and committed group of friends.
MadRon is organised in the UK but takes place in north Portugal in association with the team responsible for “Extreme Lagares”. We use the tough Extreme Lagares routes and then add the MadRon secret sauce to keep them just on the fun side of hard enough. MadRon is non competitive and therefore not timed. You are free to throw in the towel and then start fresh the following morning. The standard MadRon route is fun and challenging; it can be considered equal to Romaniacs “Bronze” and genuinely do-able. The optional EXTREME excursion routes that radiate away from the standard MadRon route are easy “Silver” and should be attempted fresh and with caution.
MadRon ( Mad Ron ) started in the Algarve in 2015 with a group of 11 riders from the UK and is run with a meticulous eye to detail and rider enjoyment. It has always been exclusively GPS based navigation. The name is derived from a severely punchy clear fruit liquor brewed in Portugal called Medronho. MadRon is the inevitable result of too much Medronho. The event has now moved to Porto to leverage the professional knowledge and contacts of the XL Lagares team. The event is run in association with them, but the MadRon brand remains the property of Julian Rapp.
2015 was the test bed that we played very safe. Paul Bolton and Lisa very kindly helped us out with two days of training that preceded the event.
2016 was an entirely new animal and caught out a good percentage of the 2015 riders. With some memorable feature sections including: Doom, Area 51, 45 minutes, Not so bad, Labyrinth, Carlsberg, Powerline & Manifold. Not many people finished.
2017 shaped up as expected and bookings showed a 50/50 split between returning and new riders. However the most exciting statistic was the 75% returning rider rate, testament to the team’s efforts last year.
2018 This is the year we started to attract interest We secured Actiongraphers for professional photos and managed to garner some support from the Monchique district council, the Police and the local Fire service (medical support)
2019 Was a hard fought year. Following a terminal rift in the team there were also some major issues with the FIM who were operating the ISDE at almost the same time and using our tracks, this cut the usual extent of the events terrain by 75%. In the end the event ran as X-RON and was surprisingly successful.
2020 Looking for much needed support the founder Julian Rapp approached the Extreme XL Lagares Team and secured all the help that was needed and pledges to run event in Porto. Despite good sales the event was cancelled due to covid restrictions.
2021 Again, cancelled due to Covid
2022 Cancelled due to Brexit issues…..give us a break please !!!
2023 Back in action in Porto. 2023 was a fabulous success rider numbers were low. This was expected whilst everybody stood on the side lines and watched to watch how the first event in Porto panned out. Made some great new media contacts, but since loosing Actiongraphers to Dakar we are very much missing their dynamic photographs.
2024 Ready for round #2 in Porto. Sales are already high for 2024
Professional riders to bring cache to the event and offer advice and encouragement to the riders.
Package:
note: at the discretion of MadRon
Please contact Julian Rapp
Pidgeon Box Farm
Rodley
Gloucestershire
GL141QZ
This Web site is secured with a GoDaddy.com Web Server Certificate. Transactions on the site are protected with up to 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption.
MAD-RON IS A TRADEMARK the use is protected under UK/EU Law. Whilst we are happy for 3rd party use of the name/logo use, please contact us first.