Even though the 13th annual Klotz Ironman will boast international stars of the sport, some divisions of the event will have plenty of local flavor when it runs Saturday and Sunday at Tom’s Marine Sales off U.S. 47 South.

Area racers like Wesley Fruits, who graduated from North Montgomery High School, will compete against other amateurs in the Grand National Cross Country Series’ final, and biggest, event of the season.

Fruits isn’t alone. Crawfordsville resident Nathan Slavens took second in the 200C dirt bike amateur class last year, which was the best finish of any Montgomery County racer. He’s been participating in the event for seven years, but he’s uncertain as to whether he’ll run this time.

“I want to race bad,” Slavens said, “I just can’t afford to get hurt. I’ve raced it seven times, got trophied (sic) six times, but it’s always kind of a gamble.”

Still Slavens said his bike was ready to go and that he’d mosey down to the track — if nothing else, just to watch.

“I just might show up for the race,” he said, “but right now my instinct is telling me not to do it ... I’ve never got hurt yet. I’ve wrecked, but I’ve never got hurt and not been able to finish the race. This could be the year, though.”

While Slavens might run in the amateur race Sunday morning, he said he wonders how he’d fare against the professional riders in the afternoon race.

“You wonder what you’d be like if you did more races,” Slavens said. “It always makes me wonder what it’d be like to go somewhere else and race.”

Fruits managed a top-10 overall finish last year among the morning ATV classes, taking third in the sportsman class. This year Fruits plans to race in the Junior A class, but he was working on a motor Thursday evening and said it’s possible he’ll run a utility in the 4x4 Light Division.

Unlike Slavens, Fruits has been racing all year. Last weekend he won the Indiana State Championship in the Hare Scramble Quad A Division and wrapped up the District 15 Quad A Championship. If he is able to run in the Junior A class, he’s hoping for a top-five finish.

“I think it’s going to be a little muddy,” Fruits said, “but I think I can at least get top-five ... Get through the mud and anything can happen. I think it’s going to be a good race this year.”

Fruits said the key to the race was conditioning and preparation.

“Just to be able to finish is an accomplishment in itself,” he said, “and to be able to finish good is even better. It’s conditioning for the rider and the ATV prep.”

Fruits, who has been running in the Ironman for seven years, and Slavens agreed that the Ironman course just south of Crawfordsville is one of, if not the best, in the GNCC series.

“It has everything,” Fruits said of the course. “It’s the premier race of the GNCC series. It has the nastiest mud, the best hills. It seems like everyone that runs the GNCC loves to come to this race.”

Slavens said the course was awesome, but noted a key in the amateur race was knowing when and where to get off it.

“(Racers) bottleneck really bad in the hills and ravines because there are a lot of guys that don’t have near the experience,” he said. “You’ve got to find your own way around, and that’s the trick of winning. You’ve got to go off the trail.”

Both riders spoke of the crowd of spectators, which is estimated to be around 15,000.

“There’s a huge crowd,” Slavens said, “which is good for the riders because it gets you pumped up, but you don’t want to wreck in front of anybody either.”

For Fruits, it’s nice that his parents and friends from the area can come out and watch him race.

“Sometimes you can see them and sometimes you can’t,” he said. “It depends on how fast you’re going. If they jump out in your way, you’ll see them.”

Both riders also noted the crowd is unique. Fruits, who has run at many different tracks, particularly enjoys the helpful nature of the spectators.

“That’s the good thing about spectators here is that a lot of them love to help,” Fruits said. “Around the country, they’re like ‘Oh well, you’re stuck,’ but here they’re like ‘We’ll help you.’”

Most will help, the riders said, but there are some spectators with more dubious intentions.

“You don’t listen to the little kids (when they tell you which way to go),” Slavens said. “They want to see you wreck. They will point you to the bad hole instead of the good line, and they’re cracking up over there.”

For Fruits, it’s not youth but rather what the spectator is holding that tells him whether or not to trust its advice.

“If they’re holding beer cans, you don’t want to trust them,” Fruits said, “because they’ll get you stuck.”