Our weekend got off to an early start, the vans were loaded and with our less than accurate directions in hand we set off for Catton Hall to our first sponsored event: Wiggle Enduro 6 and the 10K Thunder Run. With the exception of a few u turns and choice words for the “reputable online directions” we finally arrived to a familiar sight, Patrick wandering round a field in his jeep. By this time the day was starting to push on, the pits were well on their way, the course was marked and traders had already started to arrive, we needed to prioritise, there was lots to do so we did the right thing and dug the kettle out. Fuelled with the finest flowery tea our pitch and camping area was up in no time and we were ready for the weekend ahead.

Friday evening was a relatively quiet and chilled out affair, Del the Wiggle Whippet nipped out for a quick lap of the course to familiarise himself as he would be joining the light brigade for the Night Time Time Trial while myself and Ben aired towards making a start on the beers and getting the pasta on the go. A quick chat with Tony from Magura next door and it was heads down for an early night.

Saturday got off to an early start and with all the Focus bikes on display, our little market stall set up and the demo bikes raring to go we were ready and in a great spot to see all the action unfold, 48 runners lined up for the 10k Thunder Run and with a quick pre race build up from Patrick they were off, some 34 minutes later saw Daniel Lewis from the Telford AC/RAF cross the finish line in first place with Christian Jones and Laurence Humphreys taking second and third for the mens category. Julia Downes had a 6 minute lead over the womens second place Sally Daw with Wendy Murdoch securing the third spot on the podium. With the Thunder Run complete the Demo day was underway and with plenty to choose from, the Focus First proved a very popular choice with the Superbud and Raven series also getting plenty of laps in. Matthew Page arrived around lunchtime and set up camp with us and started to prep his Raven Pro training bike ready for the Time Trial, unfortunately we couldn’t get his First Expert Race bike in time so with the Pro as the race bike we kept aside a Superbud as a spare. With the varied weather of bright spells and showers tyre choice was tricky and with a practice lap under his belt, he was ready for action. Check out his Blog for more.

With a long break from any kind of racing Del was ready for the time trial, a good 2 hours before he was due to go out, keen would be quite the understatement! With 20th place lap time of 31.03 on the Superbud he certainly set his stall for the Fun category and with Matthew’s 7th place lap time of 27.02 for the Elite category on the Raven Pro our spirits were high and all that was left to do was get the beers out to finish off a great day.

Sunday was a busy start with everyone bustling about getting themselves ready for the big event, slight confusion in the pits saw a few stressed racers having to re-organise themselves and make sure everything was in order for the closed pit format that was in place for the race. The start of the race saw a familiar short run to try and break the pack, all the bikes were lined up on the barriers and the time was drawing closer for the start. Patrick pulled a sneaky move and handed me the Air Horn to get the race underway, with a few minutes to compose myself I made my way over to the arch, why was I feeling nervous, I wasn’t lined up with the hundreds of riders ready to make a dash for their bikes and settle into 6 hours of racing on a not so forgiving cross country course! With a quick shake I chose my moment and “paarp” a blur of jersey’s not two feet in front of me flew past on the short loop before coming back through the finish arch to collect their bikes and begin the Wiggle Enduro 6.

With Nick Craig, Robin Seymour and Philip Morris leading the pack for the Elite mens the pace was set for a close result, running commentary kept everyone up to date although with all the categories out there, it was a little tricky to keep up at times. Although the course took its toll on some riders early on, there was an almost seamless stream going through the start finish straight pushing themselves round the sapping 6 mile course lap after lap. Sally Bigham took first place for the Elite women with Lydia Gould and Roy Hunt crossing the line as winners of the Fun Categories. For the Pairs, Colnago-Ergon came in first for the Mixed with Salsa Factory Team Tmtbr and Climb on Bikes/Psycle Werx for the Men and Women respectively. The weather was kind as the expected rain had yet to show up, little did we know it lay wait, and watching. As the racing drew to a close Patrick was there to greet every rider as they finished and one by one they started to trickle in, tired no doubt but pleased to see a friendly face and comforted in knowing the racing was over. All that was left to do was the presentation, simple enough you’d think. This was our first sponsored event and I had somehow got lost in the buzz of it all and agreed to hand out the prizes, Ok I thought, can’t be too difficult, don’t be shy. I started to make my way over to the PA trailer and with the worst timing you can imagine, a crack of thunder and lightening saw the heavens open with a vengence. 10 minutes pass and it’s not easing, OK, everyone dash for the catering Marquee, we’ll be dry in there. In fairness to the weather this gave the presentation a great atmosphere and the winners all came forward for their prizes to rapturous applause and with the press photo’s done this brought a great weekend to close. All that was left for us to do was pack up and head home, simple enough except the rain made this much less of task and more of a soggy muddy chore!

We would like to thank all those who make these things possible, the riders and all their friends and families who are their to offer support and congratulations and most of all to Patrick for once again, putting on a great weekend. Roll on the next!

-Robm

View all the results from the weekend here

The photos we took (click for bigger)….

Photos taken by others…
www.joolzedymond.com(Flickr set)
www.robcrayton.co.uk

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 6:03 pm and is filed under News & Press, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.