Xterra UK
Xterra UK Weekend 2-3 September
Richard Brown / 13.09.2006
The Friday evening drive west out of London, and those of you who commute into the capital will know what that's like, saw me arriving in Swansea around midnight. And the rain was already coming down steadily. Bikes were secured in the hotel conference room with only the minimal raising of eyebrows of the other guests and while everyone settled in for the night, outside it got nasty.
The schedule for the Xterra UK weekend had Saturday morning down for the two MTB Enduro events and in the afternoon, the half marathon and scrambles. By this time the weather had closed the event grounds to all motorised vehicle traffic except quad bikes and the film crews off-road motorcycles. The organisers had a back-up location in the form of a massive concrete parking lot half a mile down the road. This did turn into a bit of a bottleneck Saturday afternoon but was destined to serve as the parking facility for the remainder of the weekend.
With the wind now gusting to +30mph and the rain being driven sideways, race director Gareth Thomas had a few last words with the competitors in the MTB Enduro events before David Nicholas, managing director of the Xterra Global Tour, saw them on their way. Speaking with Gareth about the courses, the design was such that it wasn't only about getting a good time, but also about the satisfaction of completing it at all. For the competitors, much of the downhill was exhilarating just as some of the uphill was agonising – 35K distance with 700m vertical saw to that. With a few course changes dictated by the weather the day saw the Xterra Half Enduro won by Chris Rhodes in a time of 01:19:47 with Geoff Beetham taking the 75K Xterra Enduro in 03:08:37. Debbie Cooper 01:30:56 and Melissa Thomas 03:41:41 were first ladies in the Half Enduro and Enduro events respectively.
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