Sounds like you want a trail bike. If you do the ‘odd’ race, seems pointless to have that influence your bike choice when all your other riding is mountains and technical trails.
I switched from a trail bike, a race bike and a hard tail to a Turner 5Spot.
I started out with it built up light, and now have it built up sensibly with proper tyres, wide bar, short stem.
A decent bike that makes you enjoy riding is what you’re after. Something that’s bags of fun.
The Turner Sultan I have (29er version of the spot, built up almost exactly the same) isn’t as much fun, and wouldn’t make me enjoy riding as much. Its efficient, less jarring, faster over stutter bumps, but *for me* that’s not what I enjoy about riding. The involvement is.
I’d highly recommend a test ride of a 29er before going down that route.