Team Canada gets introduced at the 2024 FIM ISDE opening ceremonies | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

The 2024 International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) took place in the Galicia region of NW Spain and Team Canada put together some outstanding performances including Shelby Turner (Enduro Engineering / GasGas / FXR Moto) placing 5th overall in Women’s World Trophy and 3rd place finishes for the Vet and Women’s Club teams. Let’s dig into the Team Canada story and start to look ahead to the 99th edition of the ISDE coming up this August in Bergamo, Italy.

Tyler Medaglia in action, 2 corners into Day 2’s second Cross test | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Quick ISDE Primer

For those who aren’t completely in the know, ISDE is the FIM’s World Championship of Enduro. It’s effectively the Motocross des Nations for offroad racing. The event is based around National teams that compete in the World Trophy classes (Men’s World Trophy, Women’s World Trophy, and Junior (Men’s) World Trophy. ISDE also includes National club-level teams, and awards trophies for the Vet and Women’s club classes.

Based on EnduroGP style test racing, riders face a mix of 3 Enduro and 3 Cross timed tests each day over the first 5 days, with lengthy and demanding untimed transitions between each test. Day 6 is traditionally a motocross day.

2024 ISDE Start Line & Paddock | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

A key feature of ISDE is that riders are not allowed outside mechanical assistance and are limited to a 15-minute work period at the end of each day (after which bikes are impounded in the Parc Fermée overnight) and a 15-minute work period before they go to the start line. Bikes are not allowed to be test-fired before the rider’s start time. The riders do get the opportunity to work on their bike on course but are limited by time schedules that they need to keep as they progress through each race day. In all situations, mechanics can hand riders tools and help them place bikes on stands, but that’s pretty much it.

Riders are classified by cumulative time over each day, and the rider with the lowest overall time wins. Time penalties are assessed through the six days for missing timings, cutting the course, and outside assistance. Someone putting their hands on a bike outside of the small list of allowable reasons could result in a significant time penalty. ISDE is a true test of rider skill and machine reliability.

MEN’S TROPHY TEAM

The Canadian Men’s Trophy Team headed into Spain with a mix of veteran and rookie talent. The team was led by Corduroy Enduro winner and National Enduro Champion Tyler Medaglia (Honda / GDR / Fox Racing Canada). As a Motocross-focused pro, Medaglia had limited off-road starts through the season, but had been a complete weapon in each of them. He started the season with 3rd place XC 250 Pro finish at the Wild Boar round of the GNCC series, and followed that up with 2 wins in the XC Ontario Series, an FMSQ win, and that dominating win at The Cord. He was also looking for some ISDE redemption as he’d been forced to abandon the 2023 edition in Argentina after taking a thorn through his hand that became severely infected.

Tyler Medaglia powering his way through Cross Test 3 on Day 2 of the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Medaglia was joined by another Team Canada veteran in Phillipe Chainé (KTM Canada / Fly Racing Canada) who was starting his 10th ISDE. Chainé had a tremendous 2024 season heading into Spain, taking 2nd overall at FMSQ, winning the SOR Sprint Enduro Championship, picking up a third-place finish in the 125 Pro class at GNCC, and taking 2nd place at The Corduroy.

Phil Chainé sends it through the rain on Day 4 of the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Alex Gougeon (Husqvarna Factory Racing / MVM Motosport) came out of Quebec for his first ISDE appearance after wrapping up his 4th FMSQ overall championship and taking 3rd at The Cord.

The team was rounded out by Ryder Heacock (Beta Racing Canada) who was returning to ISDE competition, and his first Men’s World Trophy start. It had been an up-and-down season for Heacock, but he clearly had test-format racing speed and experience for days, as evidenced by his 2nd place finish at the 2023 Corduroy.

In Argentina the Men’s team had finished 8th overall and, as in several recent ISDE years, was battling most closely with Chile, Austria, and Brazil. Coming into Italy the team didn’t have a specific overall finish goal due to much larger and deeper field than was seen in South America, but a top-10 finish did seem possible.

Ryder Heacock in Day 3 Enduro test action at the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

In Spain the team started strongly with Medaglia leading the way through the first four days of racing, highlighted by five top 20 overall test finishes that included two P13’s. He also spent time in the top 30 of the overall classification. If we compare his test times against Team USA (2nd Overall) we see that he was averaging test times within less than a minute. In fact, he would likely have been the 3rd ranked rider for Spain. Remarkable achievements for an MX-focused rider racing against Enduro’s world best.

Unfortunately for Medaglia and the team, he was forced to abandon the race on the 2nd test of Day 5 when, in atrocious conditions and extreme low visibility, he shattered his elbow after hitting a rock. He was admitted to hospital and underwent surgery to repair the elbow and is continuing to work on recovery.

With an off-road competition focus for 2025 we fully expect to see Medaglia back with the team in Italy and, in all likelihood, pushing more consistently into the top 20 and hopefully the top 10.

Alex Gougeon impressed in his ISDE debut in Spain | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

ISDE rookie Gougeon was consistently 2nd fastest on the team through the race, with veteran Chainé within 1 minute or less of Gougeon until the final day’s MX where Chainé put almost 3 minutes into Gougeon in awful conditions, which was enough to push him just ahead in the overall. Ryder Heacock also performed well, keeping within a minute of Gougeon and Chainé through most days of the race.

Ultimately, though, Medaglia’s early exit put an end to Canadian overall team hopes as he was assigned a 3-hour time for days 5 and 6 for his DNF. If we replace those penalties with expected times we do see that Canada would have likely been in the fight with Poland, Portugal and (perhaps) Finland for a top-10 finish, and possibly the top-8. As we noted above, having an off-road focused Medaglia for Italy 2025 will certainly help the team compete for a top 10 result.

Women’s Trophy Team

The Women’s World Trophy Team went through significant changes in the lead-up to Spain, as two of the original team members (Lexi Pechout and Félicia Robichaud) were forced to bow out due to injury. Emma Sharpless (KTM Canada / Wheelsport / Motovan) and Courtney Schmale (KTM Canada / SOR Enduro / Leatt Canada) were tapped by the Selection committee to join Canadian off-road queen Shelby Turner (Enduro Engineering / GasGas / FXR Moto).

Turner was heading into ISDE on the back of a tremendous North American season where she ended up with 2nd overall in the US National Enduro Championship series, 4th overall in GNCC (after missing the final 4 rounds of the series), a podium at Wild Boar GNCC, and 2 wins out of 2 starts at the SOR Sprint Enduro Championship.

Emma Sharpless keeps it together over the slimy rocks of Cross test 1 on Day 4 of the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Sharpless was coming into her second ISDE Trophy Team appearance with a 2nd overall at FMSQ and Off-Road Ontario and a 3rd place finish at The Corduroy. Out west, Trophy Team rookie Schmale had taken 2nd in the SOR Sprint and Overall championships, and a 5th place Cord finish.

Shelby Turner powers through a break in the fog on Day 5’s Cross test 1 in Spain | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

In the end it was, not unexpectedly, Turner who led the way for the Canadian women with an outstanding 5th overall in the Trophy competition on the strength of a P7-P7-P7-P7-P6-P5 run through the six days of racing to beat the likes of Rachel Gutish (USA), Tayla Jones (AUS), Danielle McDonald (AUS), and Francesca Nocera (ESP). Along the way she finished as high as P3 in the tests, and was less than 2 minutes off of the overall podium after just under 4 hours of total race time.

Sharpless placed 21st overall, right in the mix with Team Great Britain’s riders who included EnduroGP regular Nieve Holmes (18th overall). Schmale rounded out the team’s results with a P27 finish, which was impacted by time penalties that pushed her down several positions in the overall.

Courtney Schmale sends it on Day 1 Test 2 at the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Canada finished 7th overall in the Team classification, just 45 seconds behind Great Britain. With one rookie and one rider having just a single previous ISDE appearance that ended on day 1, this was an outstanding result for the Canadian team.

This result is also significant in that all three riders finished despite exceptionally difficult conditions in Spain. All in all, ISDE Spain was a very successful outing for the Canadian Women’s World Trophy Team, and it set a solid foundation for Italy 2025.

Junior Trophy Team

The Canadian Junior Trophy Team was anchored by ISDE veteran Owen McKill (GasGas Canada / TLD Canada / Riders Edge) heading into Spain. McKill had originally been selected to ride for the Men’s Trophy Team, but after an injury to European-based Kenny Henderson he moved to the Junior team fill Henderson’s spot and provide veteran leadership to two ISDE rookies in Boston Montgomery (Yamaha Canada / Nicola Valley Motorsports) and Gavin Shackelly (Husqvarna Canada / International Motorsports).

Owen McKill was fully committed in the wind, rain and fog on the mountainside of Day 5’s Cross test 3 | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

McKill came to Spain after his first full season of FMSQ competition, where he would eventually finish 4th overall. He also had raced 2 rounds of the SOR Sprint Championship, finishing with another 4th overall after a P2 and P1 finish.

As expected, he led the way for the Junior team with a P22 category finish, and ended up finishing as the top-ranked Canadian male rider ahead of Gougeon, Chainé, and Heacock in 58th overall.

Gavin Shackelly, Day 4 Cross test 1 at the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Boston Montgomery deep in the mud on the final test of the 2024 ISDE | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

Shackelly and Montgomery performed exceptionally well as ISDE rookies with no FIM race experience, and recieved a lot of notice from fans and officials in finishing 31st and 33rd respectively.

The team finished in P8 overall, and was in striking distance of Portugal in 7th at just 5’38 back.

Veteran Club

Jeff Pillon, Guy Giroux and Mark Cahill celebrate their ISDE gold medals in Galicia, Spain | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

The Canadian Men’s Veteran Club team (Lynn Valley Dirt Riders) provided some of the most excitement for Canada in Spain. Made up of Mark Cahill, Guy Giroux, and Jeff Pillon, the team won Days 1 through 5 and finished 2nd on Day 6 to take home the gold medal by 12’26.44.

Women Club

Kathleen Tobin, Melie Dejonge and MC Boudreau on the podium with their ISDE 2024 bronze medals | Noel Flatters - The Enduro Bureau

On the Women’s Club side we saw MC Boudreau, Melie Dejonge and Kathleen Tobin (Halton Off-Road Riders Association) gut it out to pick up the bronze medal for Canada. Their race included a Day 5 2nd place finish on tests that played directly into the hands of the team of hard enduro speedsters.

Wrapping Up

ISDE Spain saw solid Team results and some outstanding individual performances. With a large number of rookies and riders with relatively little ISDE experience, the 2024 team likely exceeded expectations.

One important point to keep in mind with any Canadian ISDE team is that riders are, effectively, self-funded. This can limit the depth of the talent pool for the team to select from but, encouragingly, 2024 still saw competition to make the team.

With refined selection processes for the 2025 team, and continuous improvement in marketing the team for industry support, we can see that the future for Team Canada ISDE is strong. For riders who are interested in representing Canada at the FIM’s longest running championship, the application period is now open – head on over to the CMA website to learn more and find the application form for Bergamo, Italy, in August 2025.

2024 Team Canada ISDE Recap