Danielle's ride to the top continues

Parkes enduro star Danielle McDonald has now claimed the Parkes Sportsperson of the Year title.

Danielle's silver medal came whilst competing at the International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) in Argentina after she was selected to represent Australia in her first ISDE.

Competing alongside Jessica Gardiner and Tayla Jones, who have each ridden in the event many times before, Danielle claimed an individual and teams silver medal.

Danielle was one of the youngest competitors in the ISDE 2023 at 16 years old.

The ISDE was also the first senior competition Danielle has competed in with riders on their bikes for seven intense hours a day.

Not only do they have to ride through tough terrain all day but also do all of the mechanical work on their bike in 15 minutes.

This happens at the end of the day after their ride. No one else is allowed to touch the bike.

"(It) was difficult," Danielle said.

"I didn't have anything too major break on my bike, I snapped one of my clutches one day but that was basically it.

"I had Foodge my mechanic and another person there helping me out handing me tools and telling me what to do so that was very helpful but the 15 minutes made it pretty stressful."

For riders the ISDE is a test of physical and mental strength as the days reached a humid 48 degrees.

"It takes a lot of physical strength because at the end of the day, you're beat up, you're tired, you just want to go home and sleep, so it's a lot to get your head around," Danielle said.

"You've just got to keep going and tell yourself not to give up and not to stress too much.

"Mentally you've got to stay strong, you can't just give up, you've got the be there to win it."

Many riders dropped out of the competition due to injuries or fatigue and unfortunately Tayla Jones suffered an injury on the third day which made her pull out on the fourth day of competition.

This meant that team Australia had an hour added onto their time after each day but this didn't stop Danielle and Jess as they were still riding hours ahead of third place which still had three riders in the competition.

'It was a lot harder than I imagined, I thought it was going to be another easy race like all the others here in Australia, but it was next level stuff, one heck of a race that one was," Danielle said.

"We were going up this hill at one stage and there was a sheer drop off on each side, it was only half a metre wide of a trail going up this hill and if you crash, you're gone.

"That was pretty much most of the way we were going up these crazy hills, there were steep drop offs and it was mostly dust and rocks and more dust and more rocks."

Danielle's mechanic Foodge Burrell was very impressed with Danielle's performance over the six days.

"One of the best rides was day five by this young women, she dug deep and won the day outright," Foodge said.

"To be really honest, credit to Danielle because of the longevity I didn't think that she'd be there, but she got better.

"She went from nervous to riding the way she knows how to ride and she was putting time on them by a long long way. And Brandy Richards on day six after the final moto, who is one of the top American women if not the top American women, congratulated her on how fast she was riding."

After each day Danielle had her support crew to count.

Alongside her mechanic Foodge were her coach Aaron Rankmore, Tayla and her wife Allie, Jess and her partner Jeremy Carpentier who was also team manager.

Also on hand were her family, including her mother Christine, her father Jason, her younger brother Dylan and her younger sister Jade.

After the ISDE Danielle competed in the Mini O's in America which is an annual week long motocross and supercross event.

"It was a really good experience, I wanted to go over there and try and do my best and see my results on a world stage. The girls are extremely fast over there," Danielle said.

Danielle achieved fifth in the supercross after a crash and fourth overall in the motocross after an unfortunate crash.

"That's something I love about Danielle she doesn't know how to give up," Foodge said.

"She went over the front (of the bike) in the second race, picked herself up between 25^th and 30^th, worked her way back to sixth and that got her to fourth overall.

"I've seen her do that twice now, but they are the rides that make championships, that's the sign of a true champion."

This year Danielle has her sights on again being picked and representing Australia in the ISDE in Spain at the end of the year.

"Right now we are just trying to get my fitness up and training," Danielle said.

"We've got the Australian Off Road Championships coming up and I will be doing the ProMX this year as well.

"We're planning on going back to America in June for the Grand National Cross Country, that is the top enduro racing in America right now. We'll give that a go and probably do one or two rounds there and come back to Australia and do some more racing."

To prepare for her races Danielle rides in local bushland.

"There's a pretty good track that we train on, I feel like I've just got to do some more time out there and just get used to the hard terrains and longer days and more mechanical work as well with Foodge," she said.

Looking back on her experience Danielle couldn't think of anything better than the feeling of standing on the podium for her country with Jess and Tayla.

"It felt awesome to finish and especially up on the podium with the girls, that was amazing, the best possible feeling you could possibly have getting to the end," she said.