RACE REPORT | 2024 WILDWOOD ROCK EXTREME ENDURO

The plan was simple enough… or so Jeremy Cowley thought. What started out as a trip to one of the toughest races in Australia, the 2024 Wildwood Rock Extreme Enduro, quickly turned into something of an epic saga – a journey that was part race, part survival challenge and part test of sheer bloody-mindedness.

“We left Orange on Thursday,” Jeremy recalled, “and ended up going all the way through to near Lakes Entrance, which is right down near the NSW-Victorian border. It was an epic, long, long day of riding through some of the most beautiful parts of Australia.” But hey, it wasn’t just about getting there – it was about making the journey an adventure in itself.

“We managed to get there in one night,” he continued. “The next day, we went from Lakes Entrance all the way across to Wildwood, Sunbury. We had an Airbnb and stayed for the weekend.” The grind was real.

This was no last-minute scramble. Jeremy’s partner had driven a support vehicle, hauling the racebike, gear and everything he’d need for battle. “My partner drove the car with the bike and all my race gear pre-packed for us,” he said. “So, as soon as I arrived, the racebike and all my gear were ready to go.”

Two days of adventure riding before one of Australia’s hardest races? Not exactly an ideal lead-up. “It seemed easier in my head than it actually was,” Jeremy admitted. “I never really took adventure riding that seriously compared to racing.” It didn’t help that he’d been fighting off a chest infection making breathing hard… and energy hard to come by. “There were so many factors at play that could have made me bail,” he said. “But I ended up doing it all with a chronic chest infection.”

INTO THE WILD

Wildwood isn’t just a race; it’s an unforgiving gauntlet of manmade obstacles and near vertical hills designed to chew up even the most determined riders and spit them out in pieces. For Jeremy, this was his first time stepping up to the start gate, “We’ve been there before, but this was the first time I actually raced,” he said, reflecting on past visits where injuries kept him sidelined. “The previous times I showed up, I was broken and couldn’t race, so this year was really important to me – just getting on the bike and participating meant a lot.”

As he walked the track that morning, the scale of what lay ahead became painfully clear. “It was still a shock to see everything in its full scale – the logs are big, the tyres are big, the hillclimbs are big, the rock gardens are big,” he said. For someone not used to these obstacles, it can feel a little overwhelming. Jeremy soaked it in. “We turned up early on Saturday morning and saw everything in action,” he recalled. The juniors were out there, giving it their all. Watching the juniors race was really cool; they showed up and did so well,” Jeremy said. “It kind of gives you false hope that you’ll do well too!”

The day was about more than just racing. “It was nice just being around other bronze riders, getting a feel for the vibe before the top silver and gold guys came in and reminded us how far we had to go,” he said, the gap in skill levels a sobering reality.

But the hardest part wasn’t the looming obstacles; it was the fight to simply keep going. Jeremy was still battling a chest infection and practically living on antibiotics. “I was on about 3000mg of antibiotics daily, trying to get healthy, so my stomach and overall health were a mess,” he admitted. “I was basically surviving on Red Bull and sugar to get through it.” After watching the juniors, he tried to rest and steel himself for the prologue.

“I was really hyped up, super excited – but then I crumbled,” Jeremy said. The adrenaline could only carry him so far. “I couldn’t breathe properly, and by the third obstacle, I was already struggling, with snot pouring down my face.” He laughed about it later, but at the time, it was a brutal realisation of just how hard this was going to be. “There’s a great photo somewhere of me about to ride into the dust, covered in phlegm and snot from coughing up a lung,” he said. “But I still genuinely enjoyed it. I came off the bike smiling, even though I knew Sunday was going to be a long day.”

Wildwood isn’t kind to anyone, but for Jeremy, the mental hurdles were as daunting as the physical ones. “Everything is hard depending on your own skillset,” he said when asked about the toughest obstacles. “For me, it was more of a mental block that stopped me from getting through the big tractor tyres. I don’t know why, but they stood out in my mind, and my brain just said, ‘No, we can’t do that.’” It wasn’t about capability – it was about the mind refusing to cooperate. “I could manage everything else, but those tyres always got me, and I failed every time on them,” he said.

But beyond skill, endurance was king. “The biggest factor, though, is fatigue – it’s all about how much endurance your body has to get through it.” Even the juniors could handle many of the obstacles on their smaller bikes, and even the most unskilled bronze riders found ways to make it through. “It all depends on your fitness level,” Jeremy said, a reminder that, at Wildwood, sheer willpower only gets you so far.

 THE BIG DANCE

Sunday morning was all business. The atmosphere was electric, with gold and silver class riders ripping through obstacles in the prologue that seemed almost surreal in their size and complexity. “The top gold guys were just amazing to see,” Jeremy said, shaking his head. “It was almost as if the obstacles didn’t exist.” Watching them wasn’t just awe-inspiring; it was a brutal reminder of the gap between them and the rest. But Jeremy had no time to dwell on it. He walked more sections of the track, committed what he could to memory, and tried to shake off the lingering fatigue.

The start of the race was anything but conventional – a row of 10 riders, hands on helmets, waiting for the signal. “When it’s go time, hands drop, and off we go,” Jeremy explained. He got a good start, weaving his way through he prologue track which was part of the main track on the Sunday, his trusty 350 coming to life instantly. “The prologue’s obstacles were relentless,” he said. “Nothing was too hard if you kept your balance and control, but fatigue makes fools of us all.”

Then came Rocket Hill. For bronze riders, it’s a defining obstacle – steep, unforgiving, but doable with the right line and patience. “It’s tough,” Jeremy said. “But if you stick to the right line, you can push as fast as you can, stall if needed, and just crawl your way back up slowly.” Easier said than done when you’re wheezing and your chest feels like it’s on fire. “There are about four or five lines you can take,” Jeremy explained. The first lap was a blur of trial and error, but by the second lap, he’d found a rhythm. “I didn’t see it on my first lap, but on the second lap, I found a line you could go up. If you ran out of path or skill, you could stop, put it in first gear, and just crawl your way up.”

Despite the chaos and adrenaline, he didn’t cross paths with the likes of Ruben or many of the gold riders, though he did catch sight of familiar names. “There’s actually not much overlap between gold and bronze classes,” he explained. “I didn’t see Ruben at all. I did see Tommy Woodhouse and maybe one other gold rider – possibly Wade, but I’m not entirely sure. Mostly, it was silver and bronze lappers.”

The first stretch of the race was epic “You go straight through the big Wildwood Dam, then into an off-camber rocky single trail,” Jeremy described. “From there, you hit your first small hill climb, which was congested but slow and technical. Nothing was too hard if you kept your balance and control.”

While some parts flowed smoothly, Wildwood thrives on breaking momentum. “I managed to get through most of it smoothly at a steady, slow pace, as that’s what the conditions demanded,” Jeremy said. “There were plenty of bottlenecks, which meant you sometimes got to sit, catch your breath, and then tackle the next obstacle.”

The heat didn’t make things easier. “There was plenty of grip because it was dry and hot against the rocks,” Jeremy said. As the laps wore on, Jeremy found moments of calm in the chaos. There were no easy paths, but there were small victories – a clean run through a tricky section, a successful climb where others faltered. Wildwood was a relentless beast, but with every obstacle he conquered, Jeremy proved to himself why he was there. And even as the fatigue set in, as his breath came harder and the climbs felt steeper, there was a quiet satisfaction in simply enduring.

For Jeremy, it wasn’t about being the fastest or the strongest; it was about pushing past what he thought he could do. Wildwood tested every ounce of grit, determination and skill, but it also reminded him why he rode.

Not everything went according to plan. “I hit a rock too hard and fast, breaking the bead on my rear tyre,” Jeremy recounted. It was a critical issue, one that forced him to pit and rethink his strategy. Even minor setbacks could derail everything. And then there was the dam. “I got cocky going through the big dam,” he said, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice. “I’d ridden it beautifully the first time, but I overdid it and ended up crashing into the water, right in front of the photographer.” Moments like that – frustrating, humbling and slightly ridiculous – are what make races like Wildwood unforgettable.

Lap by lap, fatigue set in. “Every time I hit the top of the hill climb at the Rocky Mile – it’s about 500 to 600 metres of watermelon-sized rocks all the way up – I had a full asthmatic breakdown,” he said. “It was horrendous.” Still, he pushed on. Each breath came harder. “The biggest factor is endurance,” Jeremy said. “It’s all about how much endurance your body has to get through it.”

By the end, he’d managed two laps. “Physically, I felt great at the end – not too fatigued – but the chest infection really got to me,” he admitted. The course itself had already lived up to its reputation, but the aftermath – the sheer chaos of battered riders and busted bikes – was another spectacle entirely. “Oh, there was so much chaos – and it’s great because that’s all part of the sport we love,” Jeremy said. “There were a lot of people experiencing it for the first time, feeling really overwhelmed, but at the same time, you saw a lot of skill on display. There were some amazing riders out there, and plenty of crazy moments.”

Riders staggered off their bikes as they finished, some grinning through exhaustion, others leaning heavily on friends for support. “It’s all part of it,” he said. “There’s so much throttling, people on the side pushing, pulling, grunting and moaning. It’s pure, unfiltered effort.”

For every clean run, there were moments that could only be described as utter carnage. “I saw a guy cartwheel over a set of rocks,” Jeremy said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Full-on, end-over-end. You could hear the collective gasp from anyone nearby. He was lucky to get up and walk away.” Then there was the rider who ended up bogged so deep in mud that his bike’s radiator was practically submerged. “Another guy had only one radiator left on his bike,” Jeremy said. “He was just standing there, smiling like a lunatic. I asked, ‘Man, what happened to you?’ and he just goes, ‘Oh, I just cartwheeled the bike down a hill.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah.’”

Moments like that aren’t rare at Wildwood. “There was also a lot of talk about Sam Rogers from Western Australia losing his front mudguard,” Jeremy recalled. “Apparently, a kid was running around with it on his head like a hat, so someone’s got a great souvenir.”

The pits were littered with reminders of Wildwood’s brutality. “There were loads of broken bikes, just everywhere,” Jeremy said. Busted plastics, bent handlebars, leaking radiators – they told their own stories. “It’s a mess,” he admitted, “but it’s a fun mess.”

Reflecting on it all, Jeremy was far from deterred. “We’ll be ready to go next year,”. Wildwood had thrown everything it had at him – fatigue, illness, mechanical failures – but he’d come through it with stories, scars and no regrets. “You’re not going to know your skills or limits until you actually do it,” he said, summing up the lesson. “One of the great things about these races is they really highlight your weaknesses.” And for Jeremy, that’s reason enough to line up again – chest infection be damned.

Ruben Chadwick domination 

Beta Motorcycles Australia’s hard enduro rider Ruben Chadwick was the victor at the notorious Wildwood Rock Extreme, the final race of the year.

Chadwick kicked off his campaign with a win in Sunday morning’s prologue. Leading the gold-class field into the main race, Chadwick absolutely dominated. The 2024 event’s extended Rock Garden section played to Chadwick’s strengths, and the Queensland rider surged ahead, building an eight-minute lead on the first lap. His relentless pace and stamina throughout the gruelling five-lap race saw him cross the finish line in three hours and 34 minutes, a remarkable 36 minutes clear of runner-up Wade Ibrahim.