Red Bull Erzberg Rodeo: The Iron Giant Awaits

Finishing at all is the achievement. The table counts riders who reached the final checkpoint inside the time limit, from the official result sheets. The finish has moved further up the checkpoint list as the course has grown: checkpoint 15 from 1998 to 2007, checkpoint 27 since 2022.

Year	Finishers	Final checkpoint
2026	15	CP27
2025	14	CP27
2024	8	CP27
2023	17	CP27
2022	8	CP27
2019	16	CP26
2018	23	CP25
2017	25	CP25
2016	9	CP25
2015	5	Finish (one late checkpoint dropped during the race)
2014	31	CP23
2013	14	CP20
2012	7	CP20
2011	9	CP20
2010	15	CP20
2009	21	CP20
2008	38	CP16
2007	22	CP15
2006	39	CP15
2005	20	CP15
2003	28	CP15
1999	51	CP15
1998	49	CP15

There was no race in 2020 or 2021.

The 1999 race holds the record for finishers, 51. The closest since was 2006, with 39. The 2015 edition had the fewest: five riders out of 500. The 2012 race was cut short by 30 minutes because of heavy rain and fog, and only seven riders made it.

Entry is online only, months before the event. You cannot enter on site. For the 2027 race (27–30 May), rider registration opens on Monday 16 November 2026 at 09:00 CET. The Iron Road Prolog takes up to 1,500 riders, and the event has a history of selling out fast: entries for 2011 went in under five hours, and for 2013 in under an hour.

2026 entry fees (organizer's entry-fee page):

Entry	Fee
Iron Road Prolog only	€365
Prolog + Red Bull Hare Scramble	€475 (€40 back if you do not qualify for Sunday)
Rocket Ride	€85
Xtreme Challenge	€10

Cancellation cost €100 up to 17 April 2026, with no refund after that date.

At sign-on the organizer asks for a valid driving license or passport and a signed disclaimer. Riders under 18 need a disclaimer signed by a parent or guardian. The competitor information does not ask for a racing license. The bike must be able to run the prologue on the mine road and survive the Hare Scramble, which is why the front of the field is almost all 300cc two-strokes; see our hard enduro 300 two-stroke guide.

The address is Erzberg 1, 8790 Eisenerz. Visitors enter through the show-mine (Schaubergwerk) entrance. Eisenerz is in Upper Styria. The organizer's competitor notes give road routes from Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg, Munich and Vienna.

• Parking: €15 a day or €35 for all four days. Overnight paddock parking is €100 for the four days.
• On site: private cars and motorcycles are not allowed around the mine. Free shuttle buses run from the car parks to the arena. On Sunday, NORTH and SOUTH shuttle routes stop at viewing zones along the course.
• Finish arena: more than 700 seats and big video walls at the foot of the mountain.
• Where to stand on Sunday: the SOUTH route serves Arena South, the Start, Brecher, the Water Pipe (Wasserleitung, the longest steep climb) and the Bathtub.

2026 tickets:

Ticket	Early bird	Presale	Regular
Sunday	€60	€65	€70
Saturday	€44	€49	€55
4 days	€99	€108	€123

Children up to 13 get in free.

On TV: the organizer's FAQ lists live coverage on ServusTV and Red Bull TV. Official results go up on the organizer's results page as PDFs.

For more of Austria's riding, see our Austria enduro guide.

The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo stands as a true benchmark in Extreme Enduro. There is no prize money; riders come to take on the mountain itself. The "Iron Giant" is more than a backdrop. It is a working iron ore mine, and the course changes every year.

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The Genesis of a Legend: Erzbergrodeo's Rich History

The idea for the Erzbergrodeo came in 1994 from Karl Katoch and Andreas Werth of the Austrian magazine Reitwagen. The first race ran in 1995 with 120 starters, and South Africa's Alfie Cox won it on a KTM.

The event grew fast. By 1999 it had more than 1,000 starters, and today the Iron Road Prolog takes up to 1,500 riders from more than 40 nations. The course got harder as the field grew. The early races finished at checkpoint 15; since 2022 riders have had to clear 27 checkpoints.

In 2018 the Erzbergrodeo became round 2 of the new World Enduro Super Series (WESS). It was on the first FIM Hard Enduro World Championship calendar in 2021, but that race was not held, so its first world championship edition came in 2022. It stayed in the FIM series through 2024. In 2025 the organizers left the FIM series and awarded their own "Extreme Enduro World Champion" title. For 2026 they launched the Hard Enduro World Ranking with Red Bull Romaniacs, a year-round points ranking in which the two events are the top-tier "Supreme" rounds. The full history is in the status table above.

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Conquering the Iron Mountain: Race Format and Stages Explained

The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo runs over four days, Thursday to Sunday, and builds to the main race on Sunday.

The Gauntlet Begins: Iron Road Prologue (Qualification)

The route to Sunday starts with the Iron Road Prolog on Friday and Saturday. It is a flat-out run of about 13 km up the wide gravel mine road toward the top of the Erzberg. Riders start at 20-second intervals and get a run on each day. Only the fastest 500 of the up-to-1,500 entrants earn a place in the Red Bull Hare Scramble. The prolog has its own classes too; the official results include Competition Single, Lady Cup, Twin Cylinder and, in past years, a quad class. In 2026 Andrea Verona set the fastest time, 10:26.143, on a KTM 450 EXC-F.

The Uphill Battle: Rocket Ride (Side Event)

The Rocket Ride runs on Thursday on a multi-part steep slope in the mine. Every rider gets two qualifying attempts, and the top 48 go through to knockout heats of six riders, then a superfinal. In 2026 Sébastien Tortelli won the superfinal on a Stark.

The Ultimate Test: The Red Bull Hare Scramble (Main Event)

The main event is the Red Bull Hare Scramble on Sunday. In 2026 it started at 1:00 pm and ended at 5:00 pm sharp. The 500 qualifiers leave in waves of 50, in prologue order, so a fast Friday and Saturday buys a front-row start and a clear run at the first climbs. The course is about 30–35 km and changes every year. It mixes long climbs, steep descents, forest singletrack and boulder fields. Riders must pass all 27 checkpoints inside four hours.

Few riders make it; the finishers table above has the numbers for each year. The winner does not get prize money. The trophy is a stone taken from the blast that sets the starting ramp.

The prologue and the Hare Scramble test different things. The prologue rewards pure speed on a wide gravel road. Sunday rewards trials-level technique, fitness and the head to keep going for four hours.

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Table: Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Race Stages & Objectives

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The Brutal Terrain: Challenges of the Iron Giant

The Hare Scramble course is about 30–35 kilometers and its layout changes every year. The mine is terraced, so the route strings together steep climbs between the levels, loose descents, forest sections and fields of blasted rock. The shale gives little grip, and every rider who slips sends rocks down onto the riders below.

Many sections have become famous in their own right. These names appear as checkpoints in the official results or on the organizer's race pages:

• Wasserleitung (Water Pipe): the first checkpoint and the longest steep climb on the course. It is one of the first places the field splits.
• Dreikönig (Three Kings): another big early climb.
• Zumpferlwald: a technical forest section.
• Bathtub: a huge ore-washing basin with a nearly vertical way in and an equally steep way out.
• Machine: a mid-race checkpoint (CP13 in 2026).
• Carl's Dinner: a boulder field several hundred meters long, ridden twice.
• Motorex Highway: a late checkpoint in 2025.
• Killing Leap, Dynamite and Lazy Noon: checkpoints 24, 25 and 26 in 2026.

Weather adds to it. Rain turns the shale and mud slick, and the four-hour limit does not stretch for anyone.

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The Human and Machine: Rider Skills and Motorcycle Demands

Winning the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo takes a rare mix of rider and machine. It tests the whole rider: fitness, strength, technique and nerve.

The Rider: A Symphony of Skill and Fortitude

Four hours on the Erzberg means climbing, pushing and lifting a bike through sections most riders cannot ride clean. The winner in 2026 needed just over three hours; the last finisher needed almost the full four. Our endurance training guide and hill climbs and descents drills cover the skills that matter most here.

The head matters as much as the legs. Most of the field will not finish, and riders have to keep making good lines while exhausted.

The Machine: Built for Battle

Hard enduro bikes are built for these demands. They are light and agile, with long-travel suspension, soft-compound tires usually run on mousses so they cannot puncture, and engines that can take hours of abuse. The front of the field is dominated by 300cc two-strokes. In 2026 the top 15 included the KTM 300 EXC, GASGAS EC 300, Husqvarna TE 300, Beta RR 300 and Sherco 300 SE. Electric bikes arrived too: Graham Jarvis finished 10th on his Jarv-E, and two Stark Varg riders finished. Cody Webb finished 13th on a Yamaha WR 250 F four-stroke. For tire choices, see our guide to tubliss vs mousse vs tubes.

Preparation for the Impossible

Preparation is fitness plus slow-speed technique: balance, clutch control and getting a bike over rocks and steps. Our training section starts from the fundamentals, and logs and rocks covers the obstacle skills Carl's Dinner demands.

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Legends of the Iron Giant: Notable Winners and Moments

The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo has produced a line of champions who defined hard enduro. Taddy Błażusiak won five in a row from 2007 to 2011. Graham Jarvis has five, counting the shared win of 2015. Chris Pfeiffer won four between 1996 and 2004. Jonny Walker has three, while Cyril Despres, David Knight and Alfredo Gómez have two each.

Germany's Manuel Lettenbichler has owned the modern era. He won five in a row from 2022 to 2026, which equals Błażusiak's run and the event's record for total wins. Lettenbichler first finished the race in 2014, aged 16, the youngest finisher in its history.

Beyond individual triumphs, the Erzbergrodeo is also defined by one famous moment of sportsmanship. In the 2015 Hare Scramble, four of the sport's biggest names – Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Alfredo Gómez and Andreas Lettenbichler – got stuck on the steep, muddy climb at the Downtown section. Instead of racing each other, they spent more than an hour helping one another drag their bikes up. They reached the top with little time to spare and crossed the finish line together. The official result sheet classifies all four as winners.

KTM riders have won 22 of the 30 Hare Scrambles held since 1995, going by the winners table on this page.

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The Global Phenomenon: Impact and Significance

The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo draws more than 40,000 visitors to Eisenerz, an old mining town in Upper Styria. Riders come from more than 40 nations, and the race goes out live on ServusTV and Red Bull TV.

Its status has changed more than once. It was a WESS round in 2018 and an FIM Hard Enduro World Championship round from 2022 to 2024. Since 2026 it has been one of the two Supreme events in the Hard Enduro World Ranking, with Red Bull Romaniacs.

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The Spectator Experience: Immersed in the Adrenaline

For spectators the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is more than a race; it is a four-day festival. On the Saturday evening before the race, the Raid on Eisenerz sees thousands of riders ride into town to party with the locals.

The Hauly rides take visitors around the mine in a converted 1,217-horsepower mining truck. Tickets, parking, shuttles and the best viewing points are in the section above.

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Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of the Iron Giant

It started in 1995 with 120 riders and grew into a four-day festival with up to 1,500 entrants. The format is simple and brutal: a fast prologue for 1,500, then four hours on the mountain for the best 500. A sixth win would give Manuel Lettenbichler the record on his own.