“Done and Duster” Sean Clarke looks back on more than a decade of racing Red Bull Romaniacs, sharing the highs, the lows and the Adventures from 12 starts in the Romanian mountains.

The number one question I always get asked is why do you keep going back to the Red Bull Romanics. Well firstly, Romania is a pretty special place and not just for hard enduro riding. The people, the towns, the farmers and the cities all make it a really interesting place to visit. I started my obsession with Red Bull Romaniacs way back in 2011 after watching a couple of fellow Kiwis compete for a couple of years. This was the start, and after the first event I realised there is nothing like this event anywhere else in the world.

Four days offroad riding in the mountains around Sibiu Romania following a GPS - it couldn't get any better.

That first event I rode in the Pro class which is now called Gold, I went there to finish and that's what I did in ninth place and I was hooked.

Over the next 15 odd years I have ridden and entered the Red Bull Romaniacs 12 times and there has been a lot of ups and downs in that time. The low point was visiting a really good mate in hospital in 2013 after he had a head on with a potato farmer and was pretty badly hurt. Going to hospital in Romania is like going camping, the place is pretty rough. Another low was getting taken out in the Prologue in 2012 and not being able to compete the rest of the event. The highs and there have been a few, was winning the silver class in 2013, then the following year coming 2nd in the silver teams with local mate Mark Newton in 2014. In 2013 I was entered in gold but changed classes a month before the event as I had aggravated my right shoulder and I was really struggling to push the bike so I opted to go down a grade which was quite a hard thing to do at the time but I had convinced myself it was ok as I was 46 years old at the time.

Over the next 5 or so events I stayed in silver with a fourth placing in 2015 and a 50th placing in 2023. Oh, how the event had changed and one of the noticeable things was how worn out the tracks were, but it was still a great place to go to.

Riding silver in 2023 nearly killed me, now turning 57 years old on the eve of the event. Day one and three were the hard ones as it rained. On day one it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete the last 2km’s of the event. The most pain I was in, was coming from my feet as I have worn all the skin off the top of my ten toes on day one from the silt and the rain mixed up to make a type of foot grinding paste. Which was not good for the following three days. Adele, my better half, was not so impressed when she had to tape my toes each morning before I would head off for another day.

My thoughts on Silver in 23 was that it was harder than the Pro class in 2011 but that is how the event has evolved. Back then we were using any old enduro tyre with the pressure's way too high. The other thing is we now train for hard enduro unlike back then, it was an offshoot of enduro riding that we all did for fun when enduros were becoming too easy.

2024 through to 2026 I competed in the bronze class with the highlight finishing 7th in 2025. The bronze class is a great ride, a bit of hard, a bit of fast and a whole heap of trail that seems to just go on forever.

This last event I really struggled with a bad knee, when I say bad its bone on bone and quite painful when moved in the wrong direction.

For 2026 the event was a real adventure going back to places where the event went in the early days. Martin, the main man who organises the event really does have a pretty wild imagination with some of the obstacle's that he presents to the riders. Romania has a lot of disused coal mines and steel mills and somehow, he gets permission to ride in them, which does make for an interesting event.

There is always a time to call it a day, and this year was time for me to do just that for the Red Bull Romaniacs. Over the past 15 odd years I have met some great people, taken my whole family there multiple times, shown a lot of people what it's all about and generally just had a great time going there.

But its time – Red Bull Romaniacs is Done and Dusted for me.