Night Rider XC Race at Haldon Forest Park Report

Haldon Forest Park was the setting for the inaugural Mud and Sweat Night Rider Race. The format was an XC mountain bike race taking in parts of the popular Blue Challenge Trail that we all know and love and linking it with short technical sections that were for most people a little off-piste to their normal riding at the park. Throw in a few wide open forest tracks for good overtaking opportunities and fast downhill sections and the result was a quality 5km lap.

There were 2 classes that participants could enter, Long consisting of 4 x 5km laps and short being 2 laps and then these categories were split again into men’s and women’s. Over 100 riders entered the event, but on the night there was a bit of fallout, with less actually turning up to race – there was however a strong field of riders having come from the far corners of the South West from Penzance to Bristol, and then a handful of people coming from as far away as London! 

Registration took place in the Forest Rangers Office and a big thank you to the Forestry Commission for their support in helping us put the event on, in particular to Gemma Ingall who helped us with the course design which was really useful with her intimate knowledge of the forest! 

The start was set at the bottom of the big hill below the Go Ape zip wire giving the riders a good chance to split up into single file before they hit the first single track section. With the smell of mulled wine wafting across the forest track and the twinkle of christmas lights around the gazebo and with the sound of Christmas music playing it was quite surreal as the air horn sounded and a mass of white lights headed off into the dark.

In terms of results and winners the Men’s Long was won by Steve Hodgson in a time of 01:08:46, with lap split times for each 5km around the 17 minute mark! His first lap of 16:33 was the quickest of the night. Jack Hewlett was right on his tail and only 3 seconds behind. Their splits were close throughout the race and it was great to see the speed and agility as they powered around the course, the best viewing spot being the log drop off 200m before the finish, it kept the marshal (my wife) whooping all night! Third place went to Matt Atkinson in 01:10:57, another solid effort!

Women's Long was won by Felicity Nolan in 01:48:43 with incredibly consistent split lap times around 26 minutes. Just over 10 minutes behind, was Nicky Harries who took 2nd place and a mere 30 seconds behind Nicky was Sonia Robins taking 3rd place.

The Men’s Short, 2 laps and 10km, was won by William Hingston in a time of 00:40:44 with 2 very consistent Laps of a tad over 20 minutes, second was Phil Hervin 3 minutes behind in 00:43:27 and 3rd place was taken by Billy Hull in 00:46:29. A few riders dropped out of the long course for various reasons and so as long as they had completed the minimum of 2 laps we created a second set of results with those riders included. These results can be seen on the website but needless to say there were some very good times indeed, however we didn’t want to take away from those that entered the short course and set out with the intention of riding it at their pace, so for this reason, we kept the results separate.

And so finally, the Women’s Short was won by Alicia Hockin in in 00:52:07 which put her 8th overall. Alicia took a nasty fall at the log drop off but with a bit of handlebar straightening and a medi wipe she carried on to win, good job. Second went to Adelaide Andrews on 01:24:03, closely followed by 3rd placed Caroline McGunnigall in 01:29:02.

All riders received medal mementoes, mulled wine and mince pies, and placed riders won discount vouchers for future events and numerous amounts of Cliff Bars, who we would like to thank for supporting this event with prizes.

Thanks you also to the North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team for providing back up medical cover and an excellent off road vehicle but fortunately they weren't needed. As mentioned a big thanks to Gemma at the Forestry Commission but also to the marshals who stood out in the forest for over 3 hours cheering you on and then collecting in some 350 signs and rolls of red and white tape that marked the route.

Thank you too all the riders for their support, the feedback was awesome, people seemed to love the format and it definitely adds a little something extra riding in the dark. Everything comes at you so much faster and you have to react accordingly to ride the ever changing terrain as well as follow the signs and race others!

If the demand is there we will put on another Night Rider soon (likely to be at Cardinham in Cornwall, in March)! In the meantime our next event is the Turkey Burner on the 5th January 2014 at Woodbury Common - a MTB Navigation event, it would be great to see you all, so spread the word.

The results are all online and photos can be found on Facebook and Flickr (thanks to Harry Way and MnD Photography). A short video of the event can also be found on our website www.mudandsweat.com

Merry Christmas!
The Mud and Sweat Crew

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Our next events are:

Turkey Burner (Mud Series 1) - Mountain Bike Navigation/Orienteering event on 5th January 2014 on Woodbury Common.

Mud Series 2 – Mountain Bike Navigation/Orienteering event on 9th March 2014 – Venue TBC.

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