Mud and Sweat Mountain Bike Enduro Event
Close Racing on Dartmoor
Mud and Sweat / 10.10.2013
Princetown is the highest town in England, it is central to Dartmoor and forms the hub of some of the best off road riding in the UK. Often exposed to every bit of weather that the Atlantic can throw at it as frontal systems roll up the South West peninsula hitting the first high point, Dartmoor! Sunday the 29th dawned wet and misty as the riders registered at the event centre at Princetown Primary school.
The Mud and Sweat Enduro took in 37 km over 6 stages of the best riding to form a loop bringing the riders back to Princetown. 450 arrows, 6 stage starts and finishes, Sportident timing for split second accuracy and 14 marshals. Riders started arriving from 8.00am, and many started the day with a delicious Bacon Bap and Hot Drink from the Mud Café, fuelling themselves for the challenge ahead.
Riders set off from the start of stage 1 at one minute intervals heading south on the fast open track down to Nuns Cross and turning west to Nattor. The fastest time was just over 20 minutes for the 7.7km stage.
The transition between Stages 1 and 2 took riders through the beautiful village of Sheepstor and a chance to catch their breath before a short 1.4km technical single track section done in 7 mins 20 secs by the fastest rider.
No transition between Stages 2 and 3, but a chance to have a rest. The short course participants missed Stages 3 and 4 out, and headed straight to stage 5.
Stage 3. 2.8km – fastest time 11 minutes and 17 seconds weaved its way around the plantation on the edge of Burrator reservoir. Although the route was well marked riding at speed with some technically challenging single track and wide fast open tracks was a balance of speed and anticipation, not knowing what was around the next corner! The forest was dark and very green with no shortage of wetness!
Stage 3 end and stage 4 start and finish were a chance to grab a biscuit and take a break. Stage 4 was very fast with a lot of open track taking in a 5km figure of eight course around the Norsworthy Bridge end of Burrator. This became a little social hub as riders were coming in and out of the stages. Some riders switched to the long course at this point as they were enjoying the challenge, fastest time for stage 4, 18 minutes and 11 seconds.
After a gentle transition around the reservoir and via the ice cream van for some, stage 5 was a 1.75km blast uphill ridden the quickest in 5 minutes and 33 seconds.
Stage 6 was a challenging stage due to the weather. What on paper and first inspection looked like a fairly level ride along the disused railway track, was a tedious gentle uphill slog against the easterly wind. When riders came in to the finish, they all felt that last stage and the times reflected this. The fastest rider did the 9km stage in 27 minutes and 16 seconds. In the words of Rider Jake Read, the event was ‘Beautifully Gruelling’.
Overall, the fastest combined times for the stages went to Peter Coupland, with a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes and 49 seconds. On the short course, with riders only completing stages 1, 2, 5 and 6, the fastest combined time went to Richard Osbourne, with a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 44 seconds.
We were amazed how close some of the combined times were – with only 1 second separating some riders. The feedback from the event has been awesome. Riders seem to like the format of having timed stages to challenge themselves, and the transitions to have a rest in. There were quite a few groups of riders, who enjoyed the fact that they could all ride at their own pace for the timed stages, and then meet up again and ride the transitions together.
We will be announcing the date of the 2014 event soon – renamed ‘The Classic XC Moor Enduro’. We will be offering discounted entries and all repeat riders, who beat their 2013 time, will receive a medal!
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