12 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com
Ricky Russell will be a familiar name to any-
one who follows racing in the United States. A
long me GNCC racer, this season, Ricky "re red"
from racing the main US Na onal Series and
moved back home to Washington State in order
to focus on his family and a new chapter of his
life. But the "re red" is in quota on marks for
a reason. In addi on to excep onal results in
everything from J-Day to NORCs to the West
Hare Scrambles, Ricky Russell is now the overall
winner of the 73
rd
Corduroy Enduro, and your
2026 Canadian Na onal Enduro Champion!
So, you've had a lot of life changes in the last
year, to say the least…
Yeah, it's been different for sure. Been very
busy. Moved back to Washington. Not racing as
much, I have a full me job now working for a
construc on company, opera ng heavy ma-
chinery and building rock retaining walls. But
the biggest change is that we just had our first child
two weeks ago!
Congratula ons!
Yeah, thank you! It's been a different experience
and a new chapter in life obviously. We're excited.
So that's a pre y big change, and there's been a
lot less focus on racing, but I s ll love to go racing
for fun and I had a great me at the Corduroy. We
made it all work out!
And the whole "less focus on racing" thing doesn't
seem to have affected your results too much… con-
gratula ons on the big win up at the Cord! We've
seen you at such a wide variety of races this season
too. Like most pro riders, I imagine you've rarely got-
ten to set your own schedule, and mostly been told
by your teams what series to pursue. How did you
decide what races you'd be doing this year?
Racer Profile Racer Profile
Ricky Russell Ricky Russell
An Interview By Rachel Gutish An Interview By Rachel Gutish
