Philip completes six-day Enduro race in Finland

Philip Caldwell pitted his off-road motorcycling skills in the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) race in Finland.

The event saw Philip line up among 400 competitors from 27 countries who tackled some of the most difficult terrain in the competiton’s history.

Philip was part of the three-man Foyle Club team, along with colleagues Gordon Roberts and Seamus Muldoon, which represented Ireland and which excelled itself by finishing in 25th place out of 63 teams from across the world. Philip and his team-mates were on Husaberg bikes supplied by Philip’s HTM Ballymena dealership.

“We were over the moon with that result, particularly the fact that everybody rode really steadily for the six days and we had no major mechanical issues, which was a bonus,” Philip told Times Sport.

“We managed to finish ahead of the British Army team and a number of other very good Enlish teams so it was a brilliant week’s work.”

The ISDE is widely ackkwleodged as one of the toughest tests in motorsport, with eight-hour days on the bike, travelling approximately 340km each day in varying terrains, but Philip admits that this event took the difficulty to a new level.

“We competed in the event two years ago in Portugal but this was something else. We knew that it would be tough given the nature of the Scandanavian landscape of Finland but all the competitors were blown away by how difficult it was.

“There were 400 competitors started the race and only 290 finished - it was a record number of DNFs (did not finish).”

Competitors’ performances were judged on a combination of their performances in daily special tests and penalties incurred in time trials.

“As an example, each day, we had to manhandle the bikes across big rocks and boulders.

“There were plenty of aches and pains - in fact I got knocked out on the first day and had a bit of concussion for the next few days - and plenty of riders were complaining of tendonitis in their hands.

“It’s a sport that definitely has you questioning tour sanity at times but when you get back home and look back on an event like this, there are so many good memories,” added Philip, who has thanked wife Alison for her hard work and organisation, without whose input the trip would not have been possible, and also Geoff Kidd, the team’s driver and mechanic.