The inaugural Squamish Hard Enduro took place over the June 26-28 weekend in Squamish, British Columbia, as a U.S. Hard Enduro Exhibition round. As a USHE Exhibition race, the event was part of the schedule, and USHE racers were encouraged to check it out, with media coverage provided all weekend.
Photos by Calafia Photos/Ryan McCasland/Matt Musgrove
The two-day race sold out at 300 racers, who lined up at an endurocross track along the oceanfront on Friday for the first day of racing. All classes ran practice and two qualifying laps, then were placed into groups for their finals. Over 1000 spectators and dozens of vendors lined the edge of the gravel pit that contained the track and toughed it out as it rained sporadically throughout the day. In the finals, Gold Creek Lodge’s Declan McCahill won the Expert class, Sandra Gomez won the Pro Women’s class, and FMF KTM Off-Road Racing’s Trystan Hart won the final race.
On Saturday, the format was a four-hour, two-lap race on a longer mountain course for the Expert and Amateur classes in the morning, with a two-hour Pro-only short course in the afternoon. The Amateurs had an epic loop that went up a big mountain and back down, mixed with existing hare scrambles trails with virgin hard-enduro lines. There was a split for the Amateurs, which took them even higher up the mountain. The most difficult part of the course was a downhill, nearly 2000 vertical feet, featuring exposed roots, rocks and walk-only slopes. McCahill grabbed an early lead and held that until the finish, winning the Expert class in two hours and 21 minutes. Sandra Gomez was riding well, 14 minutes behind Declan, finishing second overall in the Expert division and winning her class. In third was Brodie Waddell, followed by Noel Bolso and Cole Clarkson to round out the top five.
In the Pro division, rows of five based on Prologue results kicked off the short-course race, with hundreds of spectators flocking to the hills to watch the battles up close. On the first main obstacle, dubbed “1995,” Hart led the field up the steep, moss-covered hill by about a minute. A four-way battle took place early on between Rockstar Husqvarna’s Ryder LeBlond, Bullet Proof Designs KRD’s Ryder Guest, Niko Piazza and Champion Brick’s Matt Green. They swapped positions multiple times, but LeBlond ended up on the exit trail first to chase Hart down. Other Pro sections brought their own challenges, such as “Hart’s Hill,” “5 Things,” and “Carla’s Cafe,” as crowds of spectators were cheering on the 20 Pros battling.
As he usually does, Hart pulled away from the pack, minimizing mistakes and averaging a lap time of 33 minutes. “The Robot” ended up finishing four laps and winning the race in two hours and 13 minutes. About midrace, LeBlond pulled away and finished in second, with Green finishing in third. Guest and Piazza rounded out the top five. CN
2026 Squamish Hard Enduro Results
OVERALL (Top 10)
- Trystan Hart (KTM)
- Ryder LeBlond (Hus) +21:05
- Matthew Green (KTM) +27:04
- Ryder Guest (KTM) +28:19
- Niko Piazza (Hus) +30:44
- Mathew Baumann (GG) -2 laps
- Everett Procter (Hus) -2 laps
- Joseph Bartzzoikas (GG) -3 laps
- Logan Catonio (Bet) -3 laps
- Travis Reed (Yam) -3 laps
