Event Reports

A tough opener for the North Of England Championship.

As I've said before I'm more of an enduro man and I do like the events in the NEEC calendar.

I entered this event on-line and looked up Harwood in the atlas. Not too far from Scarborough and pretty close to some of the other events I do. Then I found it was actually Harwood Forest, nowhere near Scarborough but up in Northumberland! "Blimey, thats a fair old trek" I thought, then began to wonder if anyone else was going to share the travel costs.

As it turned out Paul (recently back on the dirtbike scene) was going so we decided to team up. We we're going up on the Saturday, camping over and heading back after. Tea on the Saturday was going to picked up en-route but we left it too late. The map clearly showed villages and we foolishly thought there'd be a chippy in one of them. The villages turned out to be about six houses so not only was there no chippy but no nothing! We passed the venue and headed into Otterburn where we found a small shop. We had food!

Quite a few people were staying over and after a chat by the fire it was soon time to call it a day and get some sleep.

Woken by rain at just gone six was not the best start to the day. Rain!? that's not what the weather report said yesterday. There was no need to worry though as the rock hard ground soaked it up and by the time we lined up to start it had begun to brighten.

Paul had elected to ride in expert for his first enduro in years. Despite my raised eyebrows he was sure this was the correct choice. (Though fear of ridicule from Brian his boss was the real reason he wouldn't change). I was in the over 40's again and was away right after Paul. We had just two laps to do but they were going to be tough laps apparently.

We went straight into the test for sighting before heading out onto the course proper. It was two checks per lap with the first being the going and the second was just the test and fuel. Sounds easy doesn't it? Right from the off it was tight, technical going. Narrow tracks through the trees which lead onto open sections of rough moorland type ground with those big lumpy grass tufts. Ditches galore with soft sections appearing out of nowhere!

Due to the dry weather the ground in some areas was fine and didn't rut up much. However some of the ditches were getting knackered after just twenty riders! The soft edges and quite deep gaps got cut up quickly and a quick look-see payed off. The organisers had placed small metal bridges on lots of the ditches which was a blessing. Some got knocked over so launching yourself became common practice.

Some of the boggy sections got very badly cut up and by lap two had been removed to keep the event moving. Picking a good line or watching someone get through was the way to do it. There were roots aplenty in the trees too. The course held up really well and some of the climbs were good fun to blast up. Long soft alleys in the trees and long winding tracks through the rough ground all put a smile on your face as you skirted bogs and got to get a move on.

I dropped 11 minutes on the first check. But having got stuck a couple of times and having to buddy up at one nasty ditch all added time. Very few people came past me so I figured I wasn't doing that bad! The test went well enough if a bit steady and then I topped up the tank. The next check had had sections removed but was still tough. I fell off loads of times but only got stuck once. One bog had lots of riders looking at it in disbelief and two marshals encouraging the "fast is best" technique. Full chat in second saw me nearly clear it, not quite enough pace saw the second ditch claim the back wheel but a quick pull from the marshals had me on my way again. Back at the check I'd dropped another three minutes but I was fine with that as it was lots of stupid falls that had cost me time. A quick blast round the test and that was me done.

Although I was pretty tired at the end I loved this event. It was what I'd call a traditional Enduro. The laps had been cut from three to two and I'm glad as a third lap would have been a killer and would have meant a very late finish! This is a wet forest but offers a real challenge for riding and has a real variety of going. It was well worth the very long drive and I'd be up for it again.

Geraint.

P.S. So how did Paul the do? Well, some big spills, grazed arms, a bruised eyelid and lack of pre event riding time saw him back at the pits and call it a day after one lap. He loved the course but for some reason crashed his brains out. I don't know !