Premature Emasculation: WHES Round 2.

If even the smallest part of your almond-sized amygdala is driving your limbic system to suggest to your cerebrum that the hard enduro round you are about embark on is, in any way, a race for the 'lads', then you need to pull your head out of your rectum and reconcile just how well the women are racing WHES.

The most comfortable I had been all day at Dardy. Thank you, Laughing Bulldog, for capturing my moment.

I very much consider myself an ambassador of inclusivity and equality and, as an exceptional egalitarian, I am more than happy to admit that I was quite ready and willing to 'hold the baby' after only 2/3 of a lap of the Enduro Parts Australia Dardanup Dash.

In fact, I was most eager to embrace emasculation as Team Purple dominated Dardanup, leaving me and many of the other 'lads' in their wake during Round 2 of the Demo Cut WA Hard Enduro Series.

P1 in the Women's Class was Seinna Petrig. This girl is absolutely dominating the ever-growing women's class finishing races a good lap in front of the now six-strong Purple pack.

Making logs look like twigs. Adventure On Store rider Sienna Petrig.

I put it to her post-race: Where does the next challenge lie?

"Honestly, now it’s just the rest of bronze! I reaaalllly wanna push and aim for around top 10 by the end of season."

Kudos to her, but this will be a challenge because the field is just so very big, with about 30 bronze and 10 Iron Class riders all racing the same lines as the women over the same race duration. Many of these riders are not that crash hot, skills wise (certainly no judgement here btw - Ed). But a good portion of them are, quite literally, physically large enough to drag their bikes around the bronze circuit.

Sienna, on the other hand, is five feet with a lil change, at best.

Nevertheless, what she can do on that 300exc beggars belief.

I think, for Sienna, the challenge lies not in challenging the Bronze, but in riding the Silver lines. She has the grit, and she puts in the time on the bike. There is certainly no lack of courage there, that is for sure and certain.

I'd be curious to know if (technically) it would be possible to race Women's class, but ride Silver lines (insert editorial chin scratch emoji). I reckon she would give it a good hard crack.

The greatest rate limiting factor for Sienna, at the moment, is that pesky little past-time called school. Because she has been such a big part of the WHES scene for so long, we all forget she still has to get ATAR out of the way!

Its only Round 2 of 2026 and already I can't wait to see what she can do in 2027.

Looking beyond these early rounds, the Purple Elephant in the Purple circle is Diana Pont! Diana is coming on strong, but can she push harder to come closer to Sienna before Sienna slips further away?

There is no doubt Diana has the physical strength and fitness to go the distance. For the better part of her (somewhere in the vicinity of 40 year) life she has been muscling horses. Her KTM weighs less than 1/4 of the amount and does not have a mind of it's own! So, we know she can hold her own out on the track.

I watched Diana push and push through all of the snot and slip that Dardanup slid our way and I could do no more than tilt my visor her way as she pushed on past me when I was wallowing in some cow slop 5/8ths into lap 1.

Later I saw her push out of the pits for lap number two. Nine riders got only one lap away, and another ten (myself included) never saw the timing tent at all.

"Didn’t perform at my best on the first lap but the second lap was pretty smooth."

That's a pretty subdued self-appraisal but the face behind the flag really does speak volumes on what it feels like to get two laps of Dardy done.

Laughing Bulldog nails 'that' moment - Diana Pont snags a second lap just before the flag is retired.

"Dardanup was like being in a pinball machine" Jason Bale put it perfectly.

With composure constantly compromised on a track that was relentless, there just did not seem to be a moment where I, personally, felt like I could dial in any real skills.

And as such, I got very in touch with my emotional self. I don't think I was alone in that.

I spat my dummy. EBWA's Jason Bale never spits his, but sometimes the bikes have their own agenda.

Nancy Blazun felt the same way. "It was my first time at Dardanup and I was a bit shocked with the lack of traction and off- camber moist logs. On a typical WHES round, second lap is usually easier. But I don't think that would have been the case at Dardanup!!"

Laughing Bulldog captures Nancy's trials approach to traction-less Dardy.

Nancy goes well hard and puts in so much time on the bike and in training. But it is her relentlessness that has me constantly doing a double take. I saw her full pancake face plant, and her XTrainer showed God its sump. But she just got up, repacked her muffins in the basket and skipped on down the trail.

I caught up with her at the timing tent after I had called it quits. She was pacing pensively around Parke Ferme and I had this feeling she definitely was not 'one and done'. At that point I wasn't sure if she was going out again.

I asked her a few days after the race and got this "I had no regrets about only getting in one lap.  I was happy with ANY excuse to tap out. Giving my bash plate nut to Moto Dynamics rider Stuart McNaught, another trials rider mate, so he could finish and get on the podium was the icing on the cake. That said, Keren was absolutely superb out there getting through with her lap and if she said let’s go again, I would have joined her. Tough event!"

There were two newbies in the Purple Circle that Nancy was keeping an eye on out there on the track. "They were so amazing even though they didn’t finish. The look on their faces! I said to them "How good was that?". They will be back for sure, and I think they will get a full lap in at the next event." 

Not quite 'nearly there' but they'll be back: Zia and Chanelle had their eyes wide opened!

Whilst we are all getting in touch with our emotions, I cannot NOT mention the cuddliest fella in the paddock - Harris Baxter-green. Suffering the emotional turmoil of taunting from his testosterone torturers, HBG finally stepped out of Silver and into Gold.

It must be said that HBG did not need to step up, as he has never stepped on the championship podium in Silver. But alas he jammed one up those that mocked him by muscling his mass through two full laps of Gold. Well done to you big guy!

Cuddlier than any sandbag I know - the gentle giant steps up to Gold!

And finally, I would like to take some time to assert some impromptu influence on the organizational impotence of some of the WHES institutionalists. Why? Because I can!

On the issue of premature evacuation, I want to scream this LOUDLY:

If you ride WHES and you love WHES and you feel you are part of WHES then, before you crack a beer at the end of your event, get out of you Alpine Tech 12s, get into your double pluggers, get off your arse and get out into the paddock and pull in some tape!

Give the club that gives you SOOOO much just 45 minutes of your time before presentations.

Remember; the committee members were out there the weekend before you raced, two days before you raced, the day before you raced, and they are still out there cleaning up the day after you've raced.

Please don't just roll over and go to sleep after your climax. Rant over.

Oh no....hang on. I'm nearly there....but..but..buuuuuttttt not done yet.

If you are going to climax early and make a mess of the timing tent (and the volunteers that have sat there logging your times all day) try the pinch technique - it involves conscious control of your right wrist! None of us want to be left cleaning up your mess.

WHES - It is a beautiful thing, treat it well.