Collaboration is vital to the success of the MadRon Hard Enduro and we are immensely grateful to our loyal supporters who have throughout the years provided us with high end media or recognised the unique marketing and branding opportunities our event provides.
If you have media presence/skills and would like to join us or leverage our presence and media output to promote your brand please contact us without hesitation.
“If you build it, they will come” may be a popular film quote, but it perfectly captures the spirit of MadRon. MadRon Hard Enduro is a young, well-rounded event with a strong foundation of skills, experience, and financial integrity.
Organizing MadRon is fueled by a genuine love for extreme enduro. It’s not about the money; it’s about the adventure and the excuse to ride every day for weeks.
The typical MadRon rider is middle aged and comes back year after year. They are an above average skilled rider who have competed in almost all the prestige events across Europe. They enjoy the special “family” feel and praise the personal attention to detail of the organisers. The demographic is starting to change towards younger and even higher skilled riders as the MadRon reputation spreads.
MadRon is organised in the UK but takes place in north Portugal in association with the team responsible for “Extreme Lagares”. The riders are predominently from the UK and the split is as follows.
MadRon is organised in association with the team responsible for arguably the toughest hard enduro “Extreme Lagares”. We use their tough 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 route is called MadRon, it is fun but challenging; it can be considered equal to Romaniacs “Bronze” and genuinely do-able providing the rain doesn’t get involved.
There are then 3 further levels of optional EXTREME excursions that radiate away from the standard MadRon route, every day there are 6 of these routes, they should be attempted fresh and with caution. The riders carry a “hanging card” to denote the level of the extreme route they are about to attempt. Riders succesfully riding an extreme route have there cards marked marked with a unique punched pattern.
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 and Lisa Bolton very kindly helped create interest by offering two days of training that preceded the event.
2016 – 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 losing Actiongraphers to Dakar we are very much missing their dynamic photographs.
2024 – Ready for round #2 in Porto. Sales are already high for 2024
MadRon is a legitimate event with all the appropriate licences, permissions and insurances to protect the public, the operators and the riders. In addition we ensure that every rider is tracked via with gps beacons and two way emergency communication.
Packages individually tailored to you and the need not be expensive.
While MadRon Hard Enduro continues to grow in both size and recognition, organizing the event comes with significant costs and logistical challenges. It’s no exaggeration to say that this event would not be possible without the generous support of individuals and sponsors. From local businesses and enterprises to global corporations, and from local authorities to governmental agencies, we extend our heartfelt thanks for all your contributions, big and small, in making the MadRon Hard Enduro a success.
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
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