Our next event will be held at Haldon Forest Park near Exeter in Devon on 07-08-2010. This event will be the second in our Summer 'Sweat' Series.
Full details have been posted on the Events page
We are offering substantial discounts for pre-entering more than 1 of the Summer 'Sweat' Events. For pre-entering 2 events, you could save yourself 10%!
You can now enter Online using Pay Pal - See our Entry page for more details
Event Report from Round 1 of the Sweat Series at The Bike Barn, Cornwall on 06-06-10 ....
What a day! It rained all night on those that stayed in the campsite and then it dawned dry and the sun eventually came out. Just under a 100 riders enjoyed the countryside flanking the old tramway trail that runs from Portreath on the north Cornish coast down to Deveron on the south coast. The terrain was varied with a rabbit warren of byways and bridle paths that gave plenty of route choice needing planning, strategy and of course leg power. The landscape varied from lush green lanes to hard and barren heavily mined spoil tips.
Many new faces turned up along with the regulars honing their navigation skills and determined to do better than last time. The area would offer new challenges and unexplored countryside.
The Family class was won by Team Jones scoring 145 points in the allocated 2 hours. Everyone in that class took a penalty for being back late! The Knight Family being 1 hour 35 minutes late took the biggest hit with minus 435 points, but it was all part of their strategy with a built in pub lunch on route!
The Pairs Long class had the most entries and was very close at the top. Team Old Gits (Tim Morgan and Andrew Harvey) scored 655 points after a 10 point penalty putting them in 2nd place, 25 seconds earlier and they would have been beaten the actual winners – James Alsept and Mike Ricardson from Rock Zombies/ CMC who finished with 660 points.
The Pairs Short class was topped by a mixed team, Matt Jepson and Janet Burroughes who had 5 minutes to spare and were 125 points clear of 2nd place Mike Hewlett and Gary Williams.
Steve Edmonds once again dominated the Long Solo’s winning with a massive 725 points, his 4th win in a row! However Mike Prince once again was hot on his heels taking 2nd place and is waiting for the next round to take revenge…Steve are you sure you cant make it!? Worthy of note is Angela Emms first lady scoring 330 points…good job! By the way Steve didn’t clear all the controls, only 28 of them!
The Solo Short class, with 2 hours, was led in by Kyle Brown with 4 minutes to spare and 395 points. Lee Bradley from Cycle Logic would have been joint first had he not incurred a 70 point penalty.
It’s amazing how tight people arrived back to their deadline. Psychologically the map running north to south seemed downhill towards Deveron, feeling as though it was all uphill on the way back! Some riders employed the strategy of taking in the outlying controls on the way south and shooting back on the relatively fast and flat tramway which was easier to predict in terms of time needed to get back.
Unlucky to the 2 guys who had a puncture ½ a mile from the finish, causing them to incur a small penalty. Two teams were known to be having a little retail competition on the side…who could buy what as they rode around the course? Last time they bought eggs and, this time I think Cider and a Sunflower plant?
The comments seemed very positive and it was a great atmosphere at the finish and around the Bike Barn. Our hosts Roger and his wife who run the Bike Barn were superb; providing free camping, free beer tasters and free bike checks. I think they were overwhelmed by the demand for Ostrich, Kangaroo and Wild Boar pasties not to mention the Skinners Beer. Our thanks go to them for letting us run the event there. It’s our first venture into Cornwall for this type of event and we will be back, there is so much good terrain. Please spread the word and keep coming back as I know so many of you have.
The winners of each class got prizes and just a quick thank you to our sponsors:
To… Cotswold Outdoors for Cash vouchers for class winners and discount vouchers for all competitors Big Peaks for various prizes, t shirts, sun cream etc, The Bike Barn for prizes, goodie bags for the sweatiest, Fox stickers, security kits, camping weekends etc Cornish Orchards for Cider and Skinners Ale (Courtesy of the Bike Barn) for Barrels of Ale for various class winners.
We had a photographer at the event and we will be putting out some information on how you can access those shortly.
See you at the next event on Saturday 7th of August in Devon, more information to follow soon.
Best wishes the Mud and Sweat crew…………
Event Report from Round 3 of the Mud Series in the Tamar Valley on 28-03-10 ....
The third and final round of the ‘Mud Series’ took place deep in the Tamar Valley on the Devon and Cornwall border this weekend. In fact many competitors will have been in two counties during their ride, although there is little difference between Cornish and Devonshire mud! The event was well attended with many of the regulars turning out to try and maximise points and endeavour to win the series!
The map covered 3 distinctive areas and with them came different types of riding. From the start, riders immediately entered a complex area of forest known as Devon Great Consols. Numerous tracks and complex contour detail made the navigation a challenge. The wood was rich in controls with the opportunity to be able to score lots of points, but navigational errors and losing touch with the map were easily done.
To the north was more open countryside which flanked the east side of the River Tamar. Control points were accessible by a network of lanes, bridle paths and tracks, some muddier than others. The west side of the Tamar via Horsebridge also allowed access to Gun Oak Wood or what is known as Inny Foot. Only the Long courses reached this far north which was a real stretch in the time available, well done!
The thing that stands out looking at the results more than anything else is the penalties that some riders took for being back too late. 5 points were deducted for each minute or part thereof that riders returned late, one pair taking a whopping 180 point penalty. Planning, strategy and knowing your ability both physically and at map reading were critical, errors resulted in a lot of extra uphill!
So the headliners….well the class winners on long score pairs did a sterling job with 595 points, no penalties and 10 minutes to spare. 10th place Nick Bull and Steve Blacklaw would have been right on their tails had they not incurred 115 penalty points. Incidentally Nick had a GPS tracking their route and reckons they did 30km with 1800m of climb!!!!!! Dave McMorrow and Ben Betts deserve a special mention for purchasing a half dozen eggs from a farm at the most northern part of the map, they even got them back unbroken……now there’s an idea for a new challenge, good job they didn’t spot the scrumpy stall ½ mile down the road…hic.
Short score pairs was won by Andy Bennett with his team mate Mike Hewlett. With only 2 ½ minutes to spare they came in with 410 points. With exactly the same sore but 1 minute and 1 second later was Matt Jepson and Janet Boroughs, first lady home.
Steve Edmonds made it a hat-trick winning all 3 of the long solo events in the series with 725 points after taking a 25 point penalty. Pretty close behind was Mike Prince on 705 with no penalties. Angela Emms claimed a very respectable 425 points as first and only lady in the class.
Short solo honours were taken by Adrian Bower on 390 points. Alan Peters was looking very good with 410 points but with a 19 minute penalty the deficit was too much. Stuart was pleased to beat Grace his wife by 15 points….it may have been different Stuart if she hadn’t had the 50 penalty points!
The family class had the riders that pushed the times to the limit. The winners Hogg’s Heroes alias Brian and Jack Hogg won with 235 points. Worth a mention are David and Evie Lane who were the only ones not to incur penalty points.
All in all a great event thanks for all your support once again. With the weather that was forecast and the clocks going forward it was great to see you all make the effort from as far away as Penzance and up to Bath. The series results will be out soon and we now look forward to the summer ‘Sweat’ series, hopefully more dust than mud! The dates are out for these 3 events and if you didn’t get a flier check out the website or Facebook.
Thanks go to Tree Surfers for opening the café up for us at the event car park. Also to Gary at Revolve for providing bike support, we hope to have Revolve at all our events so if your bike needs a service, tune or just advice I am sure Gary can help.
We had a photographer, Andrew Ford, at the event and we will be putting out some information on how you can access those photo's shortly.
Best wishes the Mud and Sweat crew…………
Map Boards For Sale ....
A limited number of Map Boards will be available to purchase at the next event at the cost of £7 each. To reserve one, please email us.
Event Report from Round 2 of the Mud Series at Woodbury Common 31-01-10 ....
Round 2 of the ‘Mud’ series was held at Woodbury Common near Exmouth in conditions that were a complete contrast to the floods of November at Haldon! The day was crisp and cold. A heavy frost and the odd snow flurry made the area a winter wonderland in the morning and the car park was a mass of frozen craters!
Many competitors from the Haldon event turned out again to add points to their running league scores. Also there were new faces coming from further afield. The score format has proved very popular and the challenge of route choice and physical cycling adds a new dimension to mountain bike competition. Woodbury is surely a jewel in the crown in terms of riding and there was plenty of route choice to be had. Fast open tracks, single track through forest, narrow zigzagging board walks and usually plenty of big wet pools to ride through….for this event they were ice sheets though!
The Long Pairs class was the most popular with 25 pairs competing. There were 29 checkpoints in all with varying values but with a maximum score of 850 points if you got them all. No one did! Mark Pollard and Martin Walbank team Yamahammers took the top spot with 755 points and timed their finish to perfection with 7 seconds left! The first ladies Long pairs were the ‘Lenton Lovelys’ consisting of Katie Lenton and Hannah Lenton.
The Long Solo was the least subscribed with only 3 entries, but as it was at Haldon, it was Steve Edmunds who took the win with 28 out of the 29 controls, 840 points and time enough he reckoned to get the other one….perhaps next time Steve. By the way … Steve has no suspension on his bike…..
On the Short Pairs Michael Bennett and Paul Burman took an impressive win with 465 points after having taken a 2 minute (10 point) penalty, another 2 minutes and they would have run into the back of the hard chasing Matt Jepson and Janet Burroughes who took second place and first mixed pairs.
Stephen Medlock had a clear win on the Short Solo by some 90 points. First lady was Jill Green in 5th place and just ahead of her in 4th was Arthur Boyt from Cornwall who I know won’t mind me mentioning he is in his 8th Decade, good job Arthur!
Simon and Tom made up the Pryors who won the family class. Some great efforts by the youngsters today with hard ground to fall on and some technical riding. Great job by all of you.
Prizes were awarded for all class winners. Our thanks to Big Peaks Adventure Superstore and Cotswold Outdoors for their support in general and with the prizes. Also to Clinton Estates and the Pebble Heaths Trust for access on to the land.
Thanks to all those who came ….next stop Tamar Valley on the 28th March!
Event Report from Round 1 of the Mud Series at Haldon Forest 29-11-09 ....
Round One of the ‘Mud’ series kicked off at Haldon Forest Park in almost Biblical weather! High winds, flooding and trees down, all of which made for a lot of MUD! 86 competitors turned out to compete in the 5 classes ranging from short courses of 2 hours and long courses of 3 ½ hours and of course the 1 hour family class.
Registration and pre race planning and prep took place tucked away under various tents, shelters and car boots but once out on their bikes competitors had a massive area to explore collecting as many controls and associated points as possible within the time of the class they had entered. The A3 size 1;25000 map covered three forests, Bullers Hill, Harcombe and beyond, mainly on forest tracks and lanes. The competitors used planning, strategy and of course energy to battle against the elements.
The family class had 7 entries including one family that had a tow along fitted to the back of the bike for their son to join in. For the more extreme riders full suspension bikes and map boards were the order of the day. However it must be said that Steve Edmonds winner of the Long Solo class won on a bike with no such features!
There were 25 controls out in total but no one managed to clear them all within the time. A few individuals took large penalties for being back late without which they probably would have been nearer the top of their class. This is where the planning really comes in and where it is equally important to plan to your ability and fitness and choose a good route between the controls as well as being able to push hard around the map.
Other class winners worthy of note were Robert Brown who was 20 points clear on the Short Solo. Matt Jepson and Janet Burroughs had a comfortable win on the short pairs with 400 points. In the Long Pairs with 595 points Tim Morgan and Andrew Harvey put in an amazing effort.
Prizes were awarded for muddiest, sweatiest and for all class winners. Our thanks to Big Peaks Adventure Superstore and Cotswold Outdoors for their support in general and with the prizes.
Thanks to all those who came ….next stop Woodbury on the 31st January 2010!
Cotswold Outdoor Ltd and Big Peaks Adventure Superstore support Mud and Sweat…
We are pleased to announce that Big Peaks Adventure Superstore and Cotswold Outdoor Ltd are both on board with Mud and Sweat in 2010. They will be providing prizes for each class as well as Cotswold store discount vouchers for all competitors.
Bigpeaks specialise in the adrenalin sports of Cycling, Snowboarding, Surfing and Kayaking. Located in Linhay Business Park, Ashburton, Bigpeaks is the first superstore of its type in the UK. Cotswold Outdoor are a multi-award winning retailer with stores located nationwide offering one of the most comprehensive ranges of outdoor clothing and equipment in the UK. Local stores can be found at Darts Farm Shopping Village, Topsham, Exeter and at Drakes Circus, Plymouth.
Source 2 Sea 2009
After the success of 2008's event in West Wales, Source 2 Sea 2009 saw 12 teams of 6 people from Coca Cola compete in a 3 day event starting at the source of the Beaulieu River in the New Forest, Hampshire and finishing in the sea at Lepe Country Park. Glorious weather and a total of 9 stages over the course of the river saw the teams undertaking mountain biking, running, kayaking and problem solving throughout the event.
The theme was spies and numerous code breaking exercises had the teams running around the Beaulieu Motor Museum James Bond exhibition as well as carrying a Da Vinci style Cryptex as the team baton. Each stage had a physical and cerebral element to it as well as a separate stage for the teams support crew. Each team had a performance coach assigned to them and the whole journey provided learning and development for individuals and teams alike. For more information on this unique event go to www.source2sea.com
source2sea from Phil Way on Vimeo.
