2007-8 Marin Winter Enduro Round 1

11 Nov 2007, Fire road 24 Santon Downham
Images & Report: Joolze Dymond

Results (link) Timelaps.co.uk

Enduro racing is booming at the moment and the advent of cold wintery weather hasn't put any riders off as we step forward into November. High on the agenda for many riders is the popular Marin Winter Series, so popular in fact, that the first event sold out before the actual race, meaning no last minute entries on the day. A great testament to the organisers Frank Jaworski and Paul Hore the brains behind Thetford MTB Racing, which bodes well for next year as they take on the mantle of organising the XC NPS too!

Nice branding at the start!

The course selected to kick the series off was Santon Downham, 6.5 miles of fast riding fire road, masses of singletrack with a few technical obstacles popping out of the undergrowth every so often to keep the riders on their toes and make the racing fast and exciting.
It being Armistice Day, poppies were in abundance in remembrance for those that have fallen and at 10.30 before the first race got under way a minute's silence was observed.

Then it was onto the business of the day and first off it was the 4 hour riders. However just as they prepared to race off it started raining - not a good omen, however as soon as it started it stopped, soon to be replaced by a lazy winter sun, which highlighted the hundreds of colourful riders as they streamed out into the forest adding flashes of fluorescents to the glorious autumnal foliage.

Even nicer sunshine, bracken and coniferscape

As the riders surged to the first of the 2 bomb holes an elite pack of competitors had soon formed at the front consisting of, Luke Smith, plus old adversary Paul Ashby, along with Adrian Scott, Gareth Montgomerie, Paul Errington, with many more riding hard to keep this pack in sight. Ashby made the first big dig coming through on the first lap, with a huge gap, seemingly out to time trial the race. By lap 2 though he'd been reclaimed by the group as his tyre choice made the going a bit tougher than anticipated.

Montgomerie then proceeded to put in a number of attacks on the next couple of laps, reducing the size of the group. However he paid the price too of a poor tyre choice and that coupled with all the attacks found himself blown wide open and with just 3 laps remaining, he called it a day, leaving Scott, Ashby and Smith vying for position.

A puncture gave Ashby the excuse he needed to change wheels and so with a new set of faster tyres he soon regained Scott and Smith and launched another attack, this time it was Scott who paid the price, falling off the back of the group. Smith riding a strong tactical race dug deep, took his secret weapon out (a new Torq caffeinated gel) and flew round the remaining laps to take the first win of the series with a massive 9 laps completed. 9 seconds later and Ashby came in to take a convincing win in the Vets' race.

Autumn tints

Meanwhile Paul Errington overhauled Adrian Scott to come home and take 2nd in the men's 4hr, with Scott 30secs adrift taking a hard earned 3rd. With Ashby taking the honours in the Vets the race was really on for the minor placings. James D'Arcy and Jack Peterson were the men locked in battle, with Peterson seemingly hanging up his plus fours and getting back into the swing of enduro racing D'Arcy had his work cut out as the Numplumz rider was snapping at his heels the whole race. However it was D'Arcy who held the trump card coming home to take 2nd with Peterson just 36 secs behind in 3rd.

Wendy Cashmore had a relatively easy ride in the women's 4 hr race, riding from the front right from the start. However a few of the 4 hour girls had a bit of a hampered start as they got caught being 2 hr riders hogging the start line, so they lost a few minutes threading their way to the race line. 7 laps later and the race was hers thanks partly to her optician who provided her with a last minute replacement for her contact lenses. Not far behind and finishing fast was Sally Daw who picked up 2nd while Abigail Armstrong, one of those hampered at the start came home in 3rd.

Slipstreaming at an enduro? Surely not!

The 2-hour race was fast and furious with plenty of action and close racing. It was the Numplumz boys John Smith, Ben Loaker along with Joe Beddingfield and Vet John McAndrew who led the field out on the first lap closely followed by Paul Fielding, with Paul Troughton and Dan Oakley.

Two hours and 5 laps later and it was Vet John McAndrew who came home first, but took the win in the vets race leaving John Smith to take the win in the men's 2hr, with Paul Troughton coming through with just seconds to spare to take 2nd over Dan Oakley. With McAndrew mixing it with the youngsters, while on his way to the win in the vet's race, the race for 2nd fell to Phil Buick who held off David Flint in 3rd.

Singletrack is always a great feature of the venue

The Buick family did well with elder daughter Anna taking the win in the junior women's 2hr race, whilst younger daughter 12-year-old Imogen was first female home in the fun class. Mark Bayley won the sprint from Andrew Elderfield to take the win in the 2 lap fun class.
In the 2hr women's race Niki Humphrey had a blinding start pulling out a near 4-minute lead on the first lap. However seasoned campaigner Debbie Burton, not one to let the grass grow under her wheels, responded with a superb 2nd lap pulling back a huge chunk of time, meanwhile Niki settled into a steady rhythm which carried her to 4 laps and the win, with Debbie having to settle for 2nd. Nicky Healy picked up 3rd.

David Nichols made his intentions clear in the junior men's race with a fast start, which he soon settled down into a steady pace to complete 5 laps to take the win 1 lap clear of the runners up. Behind him it was the distinctive Orange Monkey youngsters that were vying for the final 2 positions. A fast start by Alex Baker, saw him pay the price, leaving team mate Nat Jarvis out in front steadily picking up the pace to come in to take 2nd with Baker hanging on to 3rd.

Nice mugshot and a reminder of more poignant themes on the 11th November

The near freezing temperatures and gusting winds did nothing to deter the enthusiasm for the start of the event a testament to the hard work of the oragnisers who strive hard to make sure their events have something for everyone, whether they're absolute beginners through to the seasoned pros. Obviously it's working, their forum is alight with glowing praise and already they are well on their way to filling the next race. So if you want a piece of the action get your entry in now - www.thetfordmtbracing.com

Tricky! Especially with a few spectators!

Rider comments:

Luke Smith
That was a tough race, seemed much tough than last year. There were the same people up for the race along with Gareth (Montgomerie). I thought Gareth would go from the gun, but in fact it was Paul (Ashby) who made the first move, which to be honest was no real surprise!Gareth was just biding his time and I was just expecting him to jump across but he didn't and Ashby came back to us, he must have realised it was going to be tough out there on your own. So we had quite a good group of us all working together.

 

I'm not sure what happened to Gareth, he sort of tailed off half way round the race, I don't know whether he blew or what, that left just me, Paul and Adi (Scott). Paul put in a little dig in some of the singletrack and that dropped Adi. That just left Paul and me, he didn't contest the finish I think he was starting to cramp up. That was a good race, hard work though.

 

The weather made it quite sticky out there, it wasn't wet enough to make it muddy, it just made it claggy. It was a brilliant course masses of singletrack and those bomb holes were much safer this year, I didn't have to thread my way through people littered at the bottom like last year. There are another 3 rounds to go, 1 more than last year, so it'll be tough to keep the form going all through Christmas. I quite like a little indulgence over Christmas, so we'll have to see what we can do, try and attend all the rounds and give them all a go.

Wendy Cashmore
Yeah that was a good ride, I was on my own for a lot of the race and it was difficult knowing how far ahead you are, so you just keep pushing on. It was a good win for Team Chance, on home territory too. Course was excellent lovely and twisty and loads of fun, perfect course really. I must say a big thanks too to the people at Dollond & Aitchison who helped me out at the last moment when I realised I didn't have any contact lenses, they pulled out all the stops to make sure I could see, without their help I wouldn't have been able to ride.

Nat Jarvis
I'm pretty happy with my result today, that's a good high for the end of the season for me. It took my legs a couple of laps to get going, but once they kicked in I was flying. I was with my team mate Alex for the first lap, then he rode off but I got back to him and flew past and didn't look back. I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to try and better my result though, I hope to ramp it all up and do loads better for the whole of 2008, this is just the start!

Paul Ashby
Yeah that was a good race, I had a good go on the first lap, my tyre choice was perfect for my first lap as it quite slushy out there but with all the riders churning through it got really sticky and the tyres weren't so good then. I punctured on the 6th lap which didn't help, I stopped put some air in it and my son was waiting with my spare wheels so I changed wheels which made my life much easier.

 

Luke was really strong today, those last two laps he was really flying. You gotta keep these youngsters on their toes ain't you. We had a good group out there, but I think tyre choice was a big decider. Gareth Montgomerie was riding Trail rakers and real mud tyre so that must have been hard work for him; he did make some good attacks and made us all hurt. Shame he blew with just 3 laps to go, he found it really hard on those tyres on the fire roads.

 

Adi was riding strongly too, but when I changed my wheels I felt loads better and made a real dig on some singletrack and Adi popped then. I said to Luke I'm not riding you away from Adi so if you want it you're gonna have to go and do it from the front and I just followed him for the last 2 laps. He was really strong, he played a good race, he didn't do a great lot to begin with but he really let loose last couple of laps. Tactically he rode a perfect race. I cramped up on the last little drag and he got away I could do anything about it but no worries I shall try and beat him - there's 3 more rounds yet!