Photo Feature: Fat Face Night Ride 2008

 

UCI C2 Race, Saturday 4th October
Marine Drive Scarborough

Images: Andrew Dunwoody | Report: Roger Wilbraham

Despite some pretty foul weather, a huge crowd gathered on Scarborough's Marine Drive for the Fat Face Night Ride, a spectacular downhill race, played out through a Saturday afternoon and evening. Andrew Dunwoody was on hand with his camera for us and did a really great job, despite the conditions, capturing the action and atmosphere of this unique event.

 

Rider Report:

 

Scarborough, less well known for Downhill Mountainbiking, probably better known for being Britain's first seaside resort. It's been a good few years since my last visit due to a less than satisfying experience with one of those holidays for a fiver out of a tabloid newspaper. Sticks in the mind these things, never again I tell you.

Last year's Edinburgh event was a huge success, but locating a home for the 2008 event proved to be a long road for organiser Chris Roberts from www.nakedracing.com I caught up with Chris before and after the event to discuss the logistics in bringing a sport like Downhill MTB to an urban environment. Chris said:

 

It was Scott Beaumont who put me on to Scarborough, as he has a relative that runs a Motorcycle circuit nearby and he knew the council were supportive about the link between events and tourism. There are plenty of places to hold events, but the town council really have to be on board and back you 100%. Luckily, Scarborough was intrigued and extremely supportive. To actually get to this point took meetings with the council planners, English Heritage, Police, Traffic Management, Environmental Health and many others and not to mention a presentation to 17 Scarborough officials to let them know what we were all about.

The course started on English Heritage land at the top of Scarborough Castle, then gradually winding its way down to a sharp left hander and down several flights of steps. Some smart variations on the steps that included grass to steps and doubling up several flights, but most bounced their way down and made use the travel. At the bottom of the steps, riders were faced with a purpose built wooden bridge, a chicane and then another wooden jump on to the back of an articulated lorry trailer. After the trailer, it was on the gas for the fastest section of the course before a tricky left hander up a gradual slope.

Back on the pedals and a sharp right hander caught a few people out as the rain sodden ground started to cut up. A short stepped descent lead to a 120 degree left hander before the charge to the finish. Expect to see a few Youtube videos of these next steps as stories surrounding how riders were taking these slowly filtered through. Danny Hart had these dialled with sweet doubles from top to bottom. After the steps, the main feature was still waiting to embarrass as many as dared to show this scant respect. Hitting the bridge straight just wasn't an option as the speed would have lead to a cold North Sea experience, so a slight right turn was put in. The bridge and drop off caught out quite a few as you really had to keep things straight so tail whips were out of the question. A short sprint round a roundabout then on to the harbour wall and it was all over in about 1 minute 12 second or longer.

It's a tough one covering a point to point race with a PA system, but Fat Face gave it a good go with the Jagermeister truck at the bottom and Monster Energy near the top keeping the crowds entertained near the jumps. Having 2 commentators and 2 PA systems is an unusual, but unique experience. Monster kept the crowd wired on 500ml cans and Jagermeister had Si Paton keeping the crowd entertained with tongue in cheek comments on 50% of the riders, but also kept it relevant for a new audience who must have been blown away by the riders jumping into the harbour entrance from a scaffolding bridge.

I had to mention the weather at some point as it's just been one of those years. Sunday was bathed in beautiful sunshine, but unfortunately we raced on Saturday. The temperature managed to reach double figures mid way through the afternoon, but most had been on site since before 9am and with a projected finish time of 10pm, patience and somewhere warm to shelter were key to surviving the day.

As difficult a day as it was for the riders, you have to feel for all the officials. Well done to all the marshals pulled together by Kinky Bikes and Scarborough Paragon Cycling Club and also Gilly Horton for keeping them all fed, watered and informed. Janet and Gary Brain know a thing or 2 about timing events and how to keep warm. Riders looking through driving rain could just about see Janet at the summit of Scarborough Castle, but only when she wound the window of the car down!!

On to the racing; the weather really didn't help matters, as riders came unstuck due to the different feel of riding at night and the slippery nature of the course. You really have to think about going from cobbles to steps, to wood, to tarmac, to mud to gravel so it's not surprising that a few reruns delayed proceedings.

Adam Carr took the win from Elite BMX and 4X rider Lewis Lacey in the Hardtail category. Juvenile winner Fraser McGlone posted a very respectable time of 1:22 to win by nearly 3 seconds from Billy Matthews. In Masters, Mark Milward and Nigel page were only separated by 300ths of a second and showed why these guys are amongst the best on the world scene. The top 5 masters all posted impressive sub 1:20 times. Local man Mark White took the top spot in the Veterans and Innerleithen specialist Lewis Buchanan was the only youth rider to post a sub 1:20 time. Current World Champ Lynda Davies took the Veteran Women category from Nicky Belton and Lisa Humphreys took the Masters win.

Due to worsening weather and the time approaching 10pm, racing was abandoned and the results of the following categories were declared based on the seeding run. Expert category winner Rich Cheetham was the only male rider outside of elite to break into the top 10 overall times with a 1:14.7 from Will Rowlands and Alex Bond. Surprisingly only 3 Juniors broke the 1:20 barrier, but Harry Molloy still posted an impressive 1:17 from Danny Fitsch and Huw Oliver. Senior winner Rich Batey could have been one of those athletes racing at elite level in any discipline he put his mind to. Just never quite happens for him, but he was still a worthy winner posting a 1:16.

 

Nice to see a few female riders out on course and posting some decent runs, the standard looked really high out there for seeding. Emma Wareham took the senior race from Sue Mahony and Harriet Latchem with a returning Kim Bent taking 4th. Great to see our World Cup stars taking part. It's probably the closest Helen Gaskell has been to getting one over Tracy Moseley in a while, only losing out by 300ths of a second. Katy Curd took 3rd closely followed by Sarah Newman.

Main event sponsor Fat Face had really put a lot of effort into this. As part of the 7 event Fat Face Night Series, that includes Mountain boarding, Wind surfing and water sports, Fat Face really pulled out all the stops to make this happen. Go to www.fatface.com for details of their products and events. Other great touches that make for a memorable event included free food and drink for all the competitors and volunteers and even a couple of free shots of Jagermeister at the after show party.

Great to also see so many category sponsors involved. Univega, Solid Bikes, Bike It, Spank, Bike Outlet York all sponsored categories and it was great to see so many team and trade stands with Chain Reaction Cycles, Zumbicycles, Grip Cycles, Descent Gear, Halfords, Rocky Mountain, Charge Bikes, Bike Radar and some real trail beauties on display from Pace.

Overall, an event I'll never forget, as it's a truly unique experience. Patience on the day was helped by knowing that Fat Face and all the teams brought together to deliver this event had worked their socks off even grafting until 2.30am Saturday morning building the bridge and back on site at 6am to finish things off. Well done to all involved.

 

Here are a few more of his images, with many, many more in the galleries linked above.