Florida Endurance series #2 – 12 Hours of Santos + E Vortex – Vortex trails – Ocala, Fl
Fantastic weather for the 2026 edition of the annual 12 Hours of Santos which is also part of the Florida Endurance series, we landed right in between two cold spells and you couldn’t have asked for much better conditions to race for 12 hours on a mountain bike.
Friday the weekend of racing kicked off with a romp’um stomp’um E bike race that lasted two laps of the 10.2 mile course that would be also used on Saturday. Evan Stalzer claimed the expert men’s win and Stephanie Lamer took the win in the women’s top class.
Saturday the race first started with the infamous “Lemans” style running start with the six and twelve hour racers going first. About ten minutes later the three hour riders got going. The first lap was an abbreviated version (about half of the full course) and the field spread out pretty quickly. The course was probably one of the toughest to date and it took its toll on many. In the three hour classes it was Jacob Zimmerman taking a comfortable win and Diana Bridges also winning the women’s 3 hour class by a large margin. In the 6 hour solo classes Carlos Pacheco and Jen Pade were awarded the wins.
In the 12 Hour solo Bob McCarty got the coveted win and he was even joined by his two teammates on the podium. Jennifer Nankman was the women’s winner both are multiple time winners of this event. Top team and overall 12 hour winners were the 4 person team the “Ocala Bicycle Center”.
Many thanks to all of the sponsors and as always many thanks to the OMBA club for their contributions to the trail system and to the volunteers that helped with the event.
Next FLE event is March 14th & 15th in Lake Mary, Florida.