World Mountain Bike Championships Day 4

 

MTB Worlds Spectator Diary - Sunday 9th Sept

- Link: Fort William Reports, Images, Results

- Link: Eddie's diary Part 1

- Link: Eddie's diary Part 2

 

Above: Crowds brave the rain and soak up some DH action

 

After the drama of the XC, we decided to check out Fort William town centre on Saturday night the town's one main street was over-run with mountain bikers and mountain bike fans, every bar was six deep with long queues just to get into most pubs. Inside, conditions were cramped, but the whole place rang with the sound of a dozen different languages, as fans from all over the world sampled the local ales.

 

Outside, there were bands playing in the main square, the Animal trials team were doing demos and the smell of Aberdeen Angus and Venison burgers drifted across town from the catering vans. After a few jars, we headed back to the hotel and prepared for a final assault on the event village the following day, and the major climax to the week - the Downhill.

 

Fort William street life on Saturday night

 

All week, I'd been eyeing up the ultra steep drop into the finish area, relishing the idea of watching the riders thunder in, but nothing could prepare me for the real thing. Far and away the busiest day so far, fans started to accumulate early-on for the Junior race and were treated to a GB (and Scottish) winner in Ruaridh Cunningham. The roars from the crowd were accompanied by horns and alpine bells and reached a peak every time a GB rider came in. This continued throughout the day, running simultaneously with the Trials finals, which drew it's own travelling crowd from one section to the next. Same story with the Womens event, with the crowd going wild for Rachel Atherton and Tracey Moseley's performances.

 

We spent the morning on the Everyday Cycling event truck, where we ran the last session of the Everyday Cycling Turbo Trainer Challenge, dragging hapless folk from the crowd and seeing how far they could ride in 2 minutes, with a chance to win signed GB shirts and other MTB goodies.

 

Oddballs and weirdos were a feature of the weekend Sunday's highlights included a group of Elvises (or Elvi, to use the correct plural) dressed as janitors, grown men racing children's plastic go karts and of course the cross-dressing Munster Rugby Club, effortlessly combining party frocks with military headgear.

 

Once again, lunchtime presented it's usual dilemmas and after almost going for the Risotto stand I was lured once more by the powerful aroma of Hog in a Bun. Later on, a Stoats Porridge flapjack and a Cappucino sustained me through the Elite Mens DH, twin highlights of which were Sam Hill's awesome run into first place despite the quickly worsening conditions, and the poor rider from New Zealand who tore the backside out of his skinsuit and rode the bottom half of the course with alfresco bum cheeks. Commentator Dan Jarvis noted that he'll be finding bits of Fort William up there for weeks.

 

The Elvis Cleaning Company were all shook up by the litter in the event village

 

The rain steadily worsened as the runs went on, making life very trick for Peaty, Marc Beamont and the Athertons, but everyone rode their socks off and pulled massive crowd pleasing whips on the huge jump into the arena. The crowd remained glued to the big screen, getting progressively more soaked as the afternoon wore on, but the rain did nothing to silence the roars when the GB riders thundered into sight.  

 

 

The end of the Men's DH sadly signalled the end to what, for me, was simply the best event I've been to, of any kind. The setting, the organisation, the vibe and the racing was superb - a real global gathering of the MTB faithful. In the words of the Junior DH team, I was stoked to be there.

 

Now I'm onto a strict no-Hog detox regime.

 

Ed