The idea of maximising the bang for your entry fee buck by racing solo for 12 hours might sound like a good idea. But it isn’t. Not for a greater majority of riders, anyway. Just ask the 60% of Ironman-class riders who’ve failed to finish the Transmoto 12-Hour in previous years. And that stat explains exactly why an Ironman class finish at the event has become such a badge of honour.

So, for 2017, we jacked the entry fee up to separate the pretenders from the serious contenders, and it worked. For the first time on record, incredibly, the 12-Hour’s Ironman class posted a 100% finish rate – yep, 12 from 12 men of iron (all of whom were sporting special red capes to identify them this year) met the chequered flag in the 12th hour, and earned the respect of every man, woman and child in the pit paddock.

^(Left) Michael Spiteri –3rd, (Middle) Chris Warwick –2nd, (Right) Kye Anderson –1st

The glutton for punishment that is Kye Anderson racked up his second 12-Hour win (and fifth Transmoto Enduro Event victory in less than three years), punching out an astounding 44 laps that put him in 36th position Outright! The NT’s Chris Warwick put in yet another gallant effort (and 41 laps) to finish second, while a last-minute entry, Michael Spiteri (who replaced the injury Jody South), vindicated all his training by running a very credible third with 40 laps. Perhaps the best endorsement of all came from multiple Aussie enduro champ, Daniel Milner, who said during his podium speech that, “The real heroes of this 12-Hour are the Ironman riders. For those guys to be doing 40-plus laps around that gnarly track, when our team-of-four won with 56 laps … well, that’s something pretty special right there.” Indeed! The top three Ironman riders each clocked up about three times as many laps as each rider in the winning Team-of-Four did.

For more of an insight into the 12 Talking Points from the 2017 12-Hour, click here.