2026 Marquette Trails Fest and round two of the Lake Superior Gravity Series is a wrap!!
What a great weekend! After last year’s absolute SCHORCHER of a weekend, there wasn’t much to complain about on the weather this year! Sure, we were still sweaty, but we weren’t melting!!
The event has so so much going on, but we’ll focus on just the gravity events.
Friday the weekend kicks off on the Benson Grade at the Dual Slalom course!
The youth competitive crew kicked off the evening with some fantastic racing! It’s amazing how fast the young group was flying through the course!
Leland Kyser inched out Payton McKeown for the boys win! While Quinn Rhoades beat out Willa Boilini for the win in the girls bracket!
For the adults, the format was a bit different this year. No longer was it a race to register, as they opened up registration to 64! Although 64 were able to enter, only 32 were allowed into the head to head brackets. Creating some tight racing action!!
While the intense racing action was transpiring, Transition Bikes supplied hot dogs were being slung by the Quick Stop Bike Shop crew! 336 dogs this year! So glad they’re able to add that to the weekend!
As we said, racing was tight this year! Riders were pushing the limits of the trail each time they went out. Slide outs, mechanicals, and more hit the racers while they were on trail, and the crowd couldn’t have asked for more!
In the end Lillia Regenold and Ryan Zinzow stood atop the brackets as the winners of the evening!
With tired legs and full bellies, racers head off to sleep before the enduro on Saturday…
Saturday the second round of the Lake Superior Gravity Series Enduro Series, presented by Onyx went off! Racers were treated to some beautiful weather and awesome trails all day!
Sport and Beginner riders got to start off the day with their morning stages, then later in the morning the Expert racers took to the trails!
Riders got to enjoy 6 stages on the day. Three for the morning, three in the afternoon. There was no order to the stages, allowing riders to choose their morning and afternoon adventures as they saw fit. The morning adventure options were Jawbone, Burning Stump and Jethro.
Jawbone is located on Marquette Mountain. It is one of their blue flow trails and it leaves many riders divided. For some, they love racing Jawbone! High speed, blue flow with some jumps and berms! Others, not as much enjoyment. Plenty of pedalling, lungs burning, steep road to get to it, Jawbone brings the pain!!! (in a good way??)
Burning Stump to Smiley is a classic. Fun flow with one or two pretty punchy climbs! If you were one of the few to complete this stage without putting your seat post up, we commend you for your leg strength! The sand corners in Smiley were running amazingly and riders were really able to open it up during the second half of this stage!
Jethro to Yah Hey brought the tech to the morning! Some good rocky tech at the top, turning into tight corners with some jumps at the bottom. This stage was many racers favorites for the morning!
After a bit of a lunch break, riders headed out for the next 3 stages of the day. 225, Flow and No Dab.
225 to Carp Eh Diem got a fun bit of tape through the infamous top rock garden. Sectioning off the normal entrance and one of the main areas on the right made riders think through where they wanted to go this year! Always fun to get a bit of creative taping for a stage.
Flow is a classic train on the Benson Grade. Lots of exposed roots and tight corners greet you as you drop in. There was a slight reroute around a bridge that, as we were told, is in need of repairs. Otherwise this long standing trail was about the same as you would come to expect. Physical and challenging! So many ways to approach sections that it can be difficult to find the “flow” 😂
Lastly, Chunder, No Dab to Hatchet! This was the stage that had riders talking the most. Hatchet was recently opened up and had some RAWness to it that we haven’t seen in a Marquette enduro race in a while. Chunky loose rocks, drops into piles of messy rocks and catch berms that were in a different place every time you rode the trail. It was FANTASTIC! No Dab is an old school Marquette trail. Tight and technical with punchy climbs over rocks and down trees, you needed to hit your marks to get through there quick! And the view from the top of Chunder Muffin is one of the best we ever get. This stage was certainly many a riders favorite this year!
In the Men’s Expert group there was some tight battles. The top 3 were only separated by 7 seconds after 13 minutes of racing!! Micheal Noble jumped between getting second and third place stage finishes all day to wind up erd overall. Moses Waite was able to secure two first place stages on the day to hold down the second place on the podium. But it was Ryan Zinzow this year who was able to win the other 4 stages and secure the overall win on the day!!
For the women, the top three were all from different age groups and had tight times as well. Lillia Regenold had one stage win and held down the 3rd place spot coming out of the 17-39 group. Kyia Anderson snuck two stage wins from the youngsters from the 40+ group. But that didn’t stop her from claiming second on the day! And from the 16 and under category, Mara Breeuwer had 3 stage wins and clinched the overall win for the day!!
There were more festivities that evening including Crit Races and live music at the awards ceremony.
Sunday the cross country crew kicked off the morning, rolling out from the base of Marquette Mountain. Then the first of the Lake Superior Gravity Series Downhill Series presented by Broken Spokes took center stage!!
Racing Gypsum, the downhill race course on Marquette Mountain, racers were greeted to dusty conditions, high speed, and a new taping through the main rock garden. The main rock garden was straightened out a bit by allowing riders to drop into it just a bit sooner than in the past. It was really fun watching riders pick their line through there this year. Four entrance options formed, with three options for the lower section, it really kept it interesting for racers and spectators alike. And the spectators were out as always for the racing action!! There were many people out hooting and hollering (other than during the silent cheer) for the racers! It couldn’t have been much for fun than it was on Sunday!
For the ladies, it was another three age group podium! Michelle Belgiano took third, Mara Breeuwer was only 2 seconds behind for second place. Then Lillia Regenold took first with a time of 2:30!!
For the men the birthday boy Bodee McFadden took 3rd, “coach” Micheal Noble was able to get second place with a 2:00, and Ryan Zinzow took the win! Ryan’s time was a 1:57, which is the first time anyone can recall this course being done in less than 2 minutes! It was speculated at the start of the day that with this taping it would be done, and Ryan was able to pull it off!!
It was such an amazing weekend of racing! And we have to shout out the Dobbs for putting on such an amazing weekend! This is their last year as the race directors of this event. After 12 years they’re going to step back (not away, just back), and hand over the reigns to somebody new for the future. They have put in so much time and effort into growing this event into the rocking time that it is today! This won’t be the last we’ll see of Nic and Aurora, but we have to say thank you to them for such an amazing run and for all the amazing memories we have thanks to their dedication to the sport and this amazing community! Cheers you two!!
Photos by Dylan Juchemich. Find Enduro and DH on Roots and Rain for sale! Dual Slalom can be found on his SmugMug!
Words by Alex Anderson.
Find out more about NTN and Marquette Trails Fest HERE.
Find the other Lake Superior Gravity Series Races HERE.
Thank you to the 2026 Lake Superior Gravity Series Sponsors
