THE population of Rainbow swelled at the weekend as the town hosted the final round of the Australian Off Road Championships.
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Racers flocked to the town for the Rainbow Desert Enduro as Shannon and Ian Rentsch claimed history by winning their ninth championship. The pair took outright honours at the event.
Shannon Rentsch said he was thrilled with the race win and admitted that his team had put together a pretty faultless performance this year.
“It couldn’t really get any better. It was almost perfect,” he said. “Getting the three wins at each round was awesome. It’s hard to believe we have won nine championships now.
“I’m starting to feel a bit old now. It’s good to see all the hard work over the years has paid off.”
The father and son duo completed a clean sweep of the championship, winning all three rounds in 2018, including a record sixth Finke Desert Race.
Australian Off Road Championships media manager Jenny Hay said the event was well organised.
“It was fantastic and it was the second time we have had the event at Rainbow,” she said. “Both times the local community has been amazing.
“They welcomed us into the main street on Friday night and we had a great night. The track was about one kilometre out of the town. We had some good crowds come out and have a look at the racing.
“I think a lot of the feedback from the competitors was that it was probably the toughest event they’ve done this year.
“It’s the longest event on the calendar at the moment in Australia and on Sunday the race was five laps of a 75km course, which was pretty gruelling.”
Ms Hay said competitors came from as far as north Queensland for the event.
“We had people from everywhere and there were quite a few competitors from South Australia,” she said.
“It was also a round of the Victorian championships, so we had a lot of Victorian riders. There were also teams from the Northern Territory and Queensland too.”