Beach Breaker 2015 Report

England’s first-ever coastal Mountain and Fat Bike event goes down a storm in North Devon

Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter

BY: mike morris

Published: 16th July, 2015


This weekend saw 57 fearless mountain and fat bikers take to the dunes as England’s first-ever Beach Breaker event got under way.

Held on Sunday 12 July, this unique coastal mountain and fat bike race saw even the most experienced of bikers dig deep as they navigated the stunning 24km course across the Braunton Burrows in North Devon. All images - Rob Barker images see more on robbarkerimages.com - full results are now confirmed.


James Bovey

The challenging course proved to be real calf-cruncher but saw Alex Dawson of Bike Motion Racing take the title of King of the Dunes in the Open category, with a time of 1h9m46s. Pete Dawe of Southfork Racing Team and James Bovey secured second and third positions overall. Pete Dawe also came first in the Veterans and Chris Clark of Banjo Cycles Team in the Super Veterans.

The fight for the Junior title was fiercely contended with Jo Barker of Southfork Racing Team taking the title with a time of 1h1714s. Calum Ebbage and George Armstrong were neck and neck as they fought for second and third place - Calum seized second place from George by just nine seconds.

In the Fat Bike open, Sam Pantling stole first place with a magnificent time of 1h13m4s, he also managed to pick up the biking holiday for two in Morzine, kindly donated by sponsor, Alpine Elements. Mike Tomlinson of Southfork Racing Team was second and Elbry Sandland of the Rocky Mountain Team comfortably took third place.

The Fat Bike Veteran category was dominated by the Rocky Mountain Team, with Elbry Sandland clinching first and Julian Mudge second.

First Place in Open Women was Becky Cornwall with a time of 1h58m27s and Julie Young took the title of Women’s Super Vets.

The event also saw two cyclocross entries: first place went to Dom Adams (1h50m58s) and second place to Becky Cornwall who was only 8 minutes behind.

In a surprising twist, the first person to cross the finish line ahead of all other competitors was Adam Meeham on an electric bike. His time was 1h8m10s, and that included a pit stop to change his battery!

Naturally, the fastest lap time came from Meeham with a time of 15 minutes and 13 seconds, but with more conventional pedal power the overall champ was Alex Dawson with a best-lap time of 17 minutes and 10 seconds.

Event director Mike Morris commented, “The Beach Breaker event has been a huge success. The competitors have loved the challenge of the course and the terrain has really put them through their paces. Exhaustion and elation was the order of the day, and it was truly a magnificent spectacle. Feedback has been fantastic and we will shortly be announcing the date for next year’s race. It looks like this year battle between fat bikes and mountain bikes has been won by mountain bikes - but only by a mere three minutes.. “

Steve Baker, CEO of boutique serviced-office provider Ventia and the event’s main sponsor also commented, “We are thrilled to be part of the first Beach Breaker event. It’s been really exhilarating watching the bikers haring around the course - this is an exciting, fast-growing sport and I might even give it a go myself next year!”

The event organisers hope the Beach Breaker will become known as a destination event and are encouraging competitors to come down and make a weekend of it. Centred around the beautiful coastal villages of Croyde, Braunton, Saunton and Putsborough, the area has always been a holiday hot spot for surfers, families, and sports-mad alike.

The Beach Breaker event together with the Croyde Ocean Triathlon is on its way to raising £10K for three coastal charities: Surfers Not Street Children, Surfers Against Sewage and Croyde Surf Lifesaving Club, and local Devon charity: The Children’s Hospice South West. 

Croyde Ocean Events also organised its inaugural Croyde Ocean Triathlon the day before. This was an olympic distance triathlon taking in a 1.5km ocean swim, a 40km road bike route, and a 12km off-road trial run.

For more info: 

More on the Beach Breaker 2015:
Event Calendar Listing



Blogger Info:


mike
 

mike morris

Read More By mike
Disclaimer:

This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

Advertise your business/event here »