Trek Marathon Series Round 2

Sherwood, May 13 2007
Report & Images Joolze Dymond

Results: British Marathon Series Round 2 Results

Link: British Mountain Bike Series Round 2 Report

Despite severe weather warnings being issued south of the country, hundreds of riders dared to believe that Sherwood Pines would be spared, as the sun shone weakly over the start of the 100km at 10am. For the first 2 hours all was well as the riders threaded their way through the forest over a slightly extended version of the trail used the previous day for the XC races.

100km Men's race Winner, Will Bjergfelt allows the rain to wash his muddy face

But this stay of execution by the weather gods was washed away by midday as the rest of the competitors set forth on the start of the 25 and 50km events, in a deluge of rain. Up until this point the trails had been fast, flowing, fun and entertaining, but as the heavens unleashed their worst they quickly turned into a slimy, slippery experience that tested the best - tyre choice at the start of the event was an all important deciding factor as many were sporting semi slicks and found the going 'interesting'.

But despite this grim weather there was no shortage of white toothy smiles shining out underneath a thick coating of mud, of delight and probably sheer exhaustion as the riders battled their way to the finish.

The most demanding of the races was of course the 100km, with 8 laps stretching before the hardy ones that lined up to tackle the distance. At the front an elite group of riders quickly formed, containing Robin Seymour, James Ouchterlony, Will Bjergfelt,
Robin Seymour, Nick Jones, Michael Broderick, Stuart Bowers, Duncan Jamieson and John Veness, and they were soon eating up the laps in just over 30mins, as the rest of the field splintered up behind them.

With most of the riders having raced the previous day, many found the going tough and soon the lead group found itself whittling down as the laps increased. By lap 4 Will Bjergfelt attacked, sensing that many around him were suffering, only Robin Seymour & team mate James Ouchterlony could go with the Kona rider. Soon the toll of the fast start claimed Ouchterlony and Bjergfelt as they slipped off the pace now being set by the determined Seymour. However, Bjergfelt dug deep and got back onto the tail of Seymour only to find the Irish man's doors blown wide open.

Bjergfelt took full advantage launching an attack on the last lap. He clearly sensed a win and went for it. His celebration started well before he hit the finish line, in fact his whoops of delight could be heard over half a mile away, as he roared to the finish. As he crossed the line tears made little rivulets through his mud-encrusted face. It was an emotional finish to a well deserved win. Seymour limped in just under 3 mins later with team mate James Ouchterlony taking 3rd another 2 mins behind.

Kate Potter (left) sees the funny side - it was that kind of day!

In the women's 100km, the drama had started even before the race, as enduro star and the 100km favourite Kate Potter, shivered her way to the line. Having not felt good the day before, the XC race had taken a toll and she was digging deep to find the strength to ride the race, in the knowledge she had to finish if her ambition to win the overall series was to come to fruition. Up against the tough antipodean was another enduro specialist Elizabeth Scalia, along with Mel Alexander, Kate Betts and Maddie Horton. As the race unfolded Potter just put her head down and battled through, just focusing on the task ahead, her usual sparkle missing under the cold layer of mud. But battle through she did and despite the healthy competition she brought the race home claiming her second win of the series. She had to be helped off her bike at the finish and didn't look in a good way - hopefully she'll not be suffering too much after this ordeal. Meanwhile challengers were finding the going too much, Kate Betts bailed after 5 laps, Scalia, obviously suffering some mechanical bailed after 7, leaving Alexander & Horton to battle it out for 2nd & 3rd, Horton finally took the 2nd, with Alexander taking 3rd.

Paul Ashby was the man making all the moves in the 100km vets, but he paid for his fast start and was eventually overhauled by Peter Turnbull and Michael Powell. Still, by the end of the tough 8 laps and over 5 hours of racing only just over 3 mins separated the top 3 finishers, with Turbull taking top spot, Powell 2nd and Ashby 3rd. Tracey Miles took the women's win in the 100km, even though she was pulled off course as her husband suffered a bad crash and had to go to hospital (fortunately it wasn't as bad as the medics thought.

Billy Joe Whenman, made up for his disappointment the day before by taking the win in the 50kms, with Rick Lister narrowly getting the upper hand over Grant Leavy taking 2nd with just a 21 second margin. The women's 50km was taken comfortably by XCRacer's Nadine Spearing, with Marcie Reinhart in 2nd and Ruth Owen-Evans 3rd.

'Cross rider and general road man Geoff Giddings was the man to beat in the vets 50km, obviously the muddy conditions suiting him down to the ground as he made short work of the distance. Paul Simmons took 2nd and Tim Stowe 3rd. Amanda D'Arcy continued her recent winning ways by taking her 2nd win in the women vets' 50km, despite a strong challenge by second placed rider Sally Daw. Jan Holmes took 3rd.

Another rider making up for the disappointment of the day before was Hamish Creber, who sprinted round the 2 lap 25km to take the win. Not far behind in 2nd was Michael Butler, coming in ahead of 2 youth rider rivals, Luke Gray in 3rd and Will Verney in 4th. Amy Thompson took the honours in the women's 25km, with Sam Bryant edging out Claudia Barham in a sprint finish to take 2nd.

With record entries in the XC and a strong healthy turn out in the Marathon, the whole weekend was an excellent showcase of how much fun mountain bike racing can be, despite whatever nature chucks at us. In fact, sometimes a liberal coating of mud just makes it that more challenging but also rewarding. I caught up with the event organiser Martyn Salt of Inevent and he kindly summed the whole weekend up for me: "It was wet, it was dry, it was cold it, was warm but overall it was really good. The riders still came despite the conditions, we've had great feedback about the course and I think we've really changed people's expectations of this venue today. We've got a mountain bike course here today that we can really call a mountain bike course. Ian and Kate Potter have done a really good job with the course, they've made an interesting and challenging course. It's been a great weekend and now I'm going to pick up some gel wrappers?"

Rider's comments:

Robin Seymour 2nd 100km
It was pretty horrendous today and I found I spent quite a lot yesterday and I think I probably didn't eat enough today, although I ate quite a lot, I just don't think you can eat as much as you need when conditions are as rough as they were today. You're always pushing and you can miscalculate a bit. I blew up a bit today. I'm happy to finish second, as on the last lap I didn't think I was going to finish at all. When it started to rain I went away as I was riding the singletrack better at the front I hadn't really pushed that hard to get away but my energy just ran out. It's good that we (Singletrack Pipedream) got 2nd and 3rd, but its really good for Will (Bjergfelt), I know he'll be delighted with the win, I know how hard he's worked in all his races and they've never gone right for him, so I'm really happy for him to be honest that he got a win at last.

Will Bjergfelt - 100km winner
Fantastic race that really makes up for yesterday where the race just went really badly for me and today I really wanted to make it up for everyone else as well, they spend a lot of money to come to these races. To win today is really really special I can't explain just how happy I am right now. I've been chasing an NPS win for quite a while, just to get there now, I've worked so hard for this. The first 4 laps were pretty fast almost XC pace, or not far off. I felt much better today, I was riding well within myself, I hung on and then I noticed that Michael Broderick was starting to suffer a bit and I went to the front and put the hammer down then there were just the 3 off us. Robin was with his teammate James and I though they were going to try and work me over: they're both very good riders and on the 5th lap Robin attacked and James was in front of me and slowed down, so Robin got a good gap. I thought maybe with another 3 laps to do maybe he'd gone too soon, so I just kept my head and rode within myself, lo and behold on the 7th lap I pulled him back. He then gave me all the encouragement I needed by telling me he was absolutely buggered, so after that I was just counting down the km just thinking 'get there, get there, get there.' The bike was fantastic. I knew I had a bit of an advantage, as everyone else seemed to be running semi slicks and I was on Knobby Nics and they were just perfect in the conditions we had today. I'm absolutely over the moon with this.

Billy Joe Whenman- 50km winner
It was good yeah a bit more fun today in the mud it made it more technical. You had to pedal a lot. Hamish (riding the 25km) attacked on the first lap so I went with him, then we got a gap and I just kept it really. They made the lap a bit harder a few more drags coupled with the rain made it more draining today but happy to get the win, I wanted to win yesterday, but only got 3rd so this sort of makes up for it.

Peter Turnbull-100km vet winner
It was absolutely freezing out there, but it was a good race. Paul Ashby went off fast and I was riding with Michael and he put in a big lap, I passed him on the 6th and by the 7th I was only 30secs behind Paul. I don't know what happened to him he must have had a mechanical just at the start of the last lap, I couldn't tell whether I'd passed him or not, so I was just riding, riding, riding. It wasn't my kind of course, I like a few climbs and being so flat it was hard work. I've just come back from the Cape Epic in Africa and having done that then back to this it's a bit of a contrast.

Rick Lister - 50km 2nd
It was good, although I came off on the first lap: one of the juniors brought me down and I'm using Racing Ralph's, which weren't ideal today. It took me a few laps to get used to riding them in the wet, but once I'd mastered that it was okay - until then I was all over the place. I got stronger towards the end so I was happy with that.

Kate Potter - 100km women's winner
I didn't feel too good from the word go today but I just got out there and there were moments when I was enjoying myself and moments where I thought this is really good practise for the 24hr solo. It just felt like it wasn't going to end today but it was good to get through it. It hasn't really sunk in that I've won it but I think with the conditions today that everyone who finished deserves first place, because that was a pretty tough one.

British Marathon Series Round 2 Results