Leuchs (30), who is based in France, is spending the next four months back in his home town of Dunedin and today's race is one of the few he will race while he is in New Zealand.
His four months back home will be the longest period he has been back in the city since leaving to pursue his cross-country mountain biking career overseas in 1997.
"I will be back training but it will be an easy period for me and I will not be racing the cross-country events," he said.
It is his off-season and he will not be competing in the New Zealand mountain bike series over the summer months.
But he will race in more adventure-style races such as the Bannockburn Gutbuster, the four-day Alpine Epic in the Lake Tekapo region and the Dunedin Peninsula Challenge.
Roy, an experienced mountain biker, set the record for the Bannockburn race of 2hr 55min two years ago.
The record entry for the event is 350 and 300 riders are expected to contest the race that starts at the Garston Hotel and finishes at the Bannockburn pub.
One of the most difficult parts of the race is the climb to the 1100m Hector Mountain summit past the historic ski hut.
The course then follows the four-wheel-drive track and riders cross 25 fords on the way to the Drummond and Commissioner Creeks.
After the Nevis Crossing Bridge the riders have another gut-busting ride up 640m that has a gradient of 1:12.
There is then an easy 5km ride on a sealed road to the finish at Bannockburn.
The race is the first event on the five-race Cromwell summer series.
The other races are the Bannockburn Mountain Bike Classic (December 30), Lake Dunstan Triathlon (January 2), Lake Dunstan Cycle Challenge (January 11), Carricktown Crusher (April 4).
