Congratulations to the Saddle Skedaddle riders Anne Woods, Matt and Greg Barton who completed the Kielder 100 this weekend in what can only be described as awful conditions and Gordon who made it to the 50 mile mark, which under the condtions was a no mean feat!!

Anne came in second in the female vets category…missing out on the top spot by just a few minutes and Matt was 45 overall and just outside the top ten in the male vets category.

Click here for the photos:

Here’s Matt’s thoughts on the event:

“Here I am, sat on a train heading south feeling exfoliated all over. BIG day out yesterday, rained the whole way round which accounted for there being 180 finishers from 604 entries. I managed to get round in 11:02 for 45th and close to top 10th in the vets, I got off lightly on the mechanicals front with only a snapped chain, various stories of people consuming several sets of pads.

My brother Greg who finished 122nd, snapped his chain twice and finished in 12:45 with just a front brake and borderline hypothermia.

Thanks again for the entry, hope all is well and here’s to a sunny Skedadle holiday very soon - i think I deserve it!!”

Anne’s Thoughts:

Survived and finished!!!! It was rather wet and muddy only 180 people finished  came in 173.

Dare I say I even enjoyed it and am even considering entering next year mind you I wasn’t saying that Sat eve - can’t possibly be as bad again weather wise Ooooops!

Catch ya soon - One happy Kielder 100 finisher

Cheers
Ax

Thoughts of Gordon Hull who won a free place in the event in one of our competitions:

It was completely minging. I got to the 51 mile check. The other two finished though, good for them!  

Cheers to Steve for giving me a lift half way back along the road, and for all the help from everyone to make it all work.  I feel I can do this one, but I’ll need to do a bit more bike prep and Gord prep for that matter.  I trained pretty well but there were other issues out in the trail which make it tough.It was completely minging. I got to the 51 mile check. The other three finished though, good for them!  

Here’s the thoughts of Sara from SIPS who arranged the event:

Congratulations to all 180 riders that completed the gruelling 100 mile course in the worst conditions we’ve had so far in the short history of the event. There’s a huge amount of respect for each of you from the hundreds that didn’t make it and everyone involved in the event. That was one tough day!

A huge thank you to everybody involved, to all the volunteers and helpers who did a fantastic job throughout the weekened, everybody at Forestry Commission England again for the help they gave us before the event finishing trails and to Stevie for the amazing finish structure, and for the FC support during the event; to the Kielder Community camp site and the communities and businesses of Kielder, Newcastleton and surrounding area, to Rescue Medics, all the caterers - The Duke’s Pantry, Alfresco Event Catering and The Olive Tree cafe in Newcastleton.

Thanks to our sponsors for their continuing support and generosity: Montane, Saddle Skedaddle, Rock UK, Accelerade, Juice Lubes, Joolze Dymond, Exposure Lights, USE, XCRacer.com, 7Stanes, Allendale Brewery and not forgetting the incredible guys at the Tech Support stations - Cycle Shack and Bike Seven - who tried their hardest to keep many of you in the event with their technical wizardry when so many bikes were giving in to the harsh conditions.

As you can see there are a lot of people involved in this event and they all help to make it what it is. Race photos are now available from our official photographer Joolze Dymond photography. Full results are on the Sportident website.

We hope you all had a great time. Keep an eye on the website to see when entries for the 2012 event will be opening. Have a great winter of riding. See you next year!

ps Skedaddle have organised a bucket load of Andalucian sunshine for the the 2012 event all to be delivered from their base in Spain in time for the start!!

Below is the write-up of the event and congratulations to Grand Veteran rider Kim Burrows who won the Skedaddle UK Weekend
Well done!!! You too can be in with a chance of winning just by entering the race and turning up (over 18’s only).

Photo wise - Joolze and Mr.Joolze clicked away with their box brownies and here are the shots.

Here’s the write up from Paul…..So here we are back at Crowthorne in such a short space of time, but on an oh so different course to that in January. Thank you for bearing with us and understanding that the move from Heath Warren was forced upon us due to the landowners admin errors. We’ve had a manic four days prepping Crowthorne to ensure that you would still get a quality race. All credit to Peter Radband who has worked tirelessly this week, having already spent countless hours at Heath Warren preparing that great course. Hopefully the motorbike enduro hasn’t wrecked his work and we can visit there again soon.

Thank you for all your feedback today such as this from Maxine Filby: “That was fab! Fast, furious and great fun. Such a shame not to ride at Heath Warren but this more than made up for the disappointment.” And from Scott Forbes: “It was just the right lap length for this time of year. Plus we finished before dark, bonus.”

This season all the race categories are going from strength to strength with both the quality and quantity of riders taking part, which is encouraging. If you are new to racing and still learning the craft you may have found some trail sections at Crowthorne a bit on the technical side. Fear not as every venue has its own challenges and riding such trails soon brings on your skills. Which introduces us nicely to our MTB Skills Training Courses held in Swinley Forest and Crowthorne. Gorrick has qualified skills instructors who can teach a wide variety of cycling skills and fitness tips. The course dates are currently being finalised and will be published soon, in the meantime read about the various courses here.

The Series Points will be updated toward the end of this week to allow for timing mishaps to be resolved. The first 15 finishers are awarded points on a sliding scale from 30 down to 1. Don’t forget that to be in with a chance of a Series position you must score points in a minimum of three rounds, so consistent finishers are rewarded. We have great support again from your local independent bike shops who supply prize vouchers, plus Saddle Skedaddle holidays for some winners. Long term supporter Mountain Trax of Barkham near Wokingham pay for all the race number boards where you can get a discount on products by taking in your number board when you shop there.

Looking ahead to Round 3 on the 6th March which is due to be at Windmill Hill, Deepcut. Riders not familiar with this venue will more likely know it as Porridgepot Hill. But the arena is on the playing field also used for the Brass Monkeys Round 1 race this year and the Army Are You Tough Enduro so expect to use similar trails to those races. We look forward to seeing you there.

Once again Skedaddle mountain biking holidays are sponsoring the Gorrick Spring Series and giving away some fab prizes for the lucky category winners and random spot prizes too. The series kicked of on 14th February and here’s the news of all that occured…

“Well dear I thought for this Valentines Day we could pop over to the woods for a few hours and get a bit dirty….” and so the first Gorrick Skedaddle Spring Series finally got underway at last and now with Tunnel Hill temporarily renamed The Tunnel of Love, riders were again in for a singletrack love fest as a perfectly crafted 5 mile circuit complete with a romantic interlude, plus plenty of the famous ‘Gorrick’ swoops and descents, balanced with a couple of killer stings in the tail lay in wait. Another perfect day out for well over 550 riders was in store that not even a quick smattering of snow could deter!

On the dot of 9am it was soon time to get the XC racing under way and pride of place to cutting up the trails went to the Youth riders followed by the juveniles, while the uber keen under 12’s & under 10’s waited patiently to get stuck into a shortened version of the big course. Matthew Lewis made short work of his two laps in the snow taking the first win of the day in the Youth class, whilst Gretel Warner romped away with the win in the Juvenile girls race.

Then it was a steady conveyor belt of perfectly timed races, as one category after another were unleashed. As one batch finished another was already underway painting the trails with brightly coloured garb that fleetingly looked as if spring had arrived early and certainly cheered up the drab winter colours! Just in case proceedings weren’t colourful enough and the sprinkling of unforecast snow not delivering the right amount of romance, the thoughtful Gorrick crew had kindly set out a plethora of red balloons and heart festooned ribbons and a canoe…. All as a homage to Valentines Day, and so ‘Canoe – darling Corner’ was born!

As each race unfolded it was soon clear that along with plenty of old faces there was a considerable showing of new faces along with a new tempo. After a winter of enduro races these riders were keen to quicken the pace and shorten the distance ready for the new season of XC racing. Many of the categories were taken to the line with everything to play for as competitors dug deep looking for their racing legs that for some had been well buried over the winter!

It wasn’t just the winners of each category that went home delighted with a days work, plenty of riders were buzzing with enthusiasm over the fantastically fun course as they laid siege to the catering van drinking them out of hot beverages and eating them out of bacon butties. A few other riders had more reasons than most to be happy with their day in the woods, especially Sport rider Adam Westhead who took home the Saddle Skedaddle Mountain Biking Holiday break and Howard Dale in the Fun race who won a 1:1 Skills session courtesy of Gorrick, Purple Bike Shed and InsideOut Fitness.

Round three will be with us on 7th March at Crowthorne and with Mothers Day just round the corner will we find homage to daffodils and bunnies? I know for certain we’ll find some amazing trails and a whole lot of XC fun!

Chief Skedaddle mountain biking guide Steve Woods will be at this event, ready to have a chat and share his thoughts on the merits of brown sauce as opposed to red on his sausage butties, so look out for the Skedaddle landy and he’ll be knocking around.

For more details of the Saddle Skedaddle Spring Series please visit: www.gorrick.com

Full results can be found at: www.timelaps.co.uk while you can relive the whole race through pictures at www.joolzedymond.com

This superb desert biking adventure focuses on the deep south of Morocco, a land of big skies and stark mountain ranges where mud-brick kasbahs appear to rise up out of the desert, sitting in tranquil palm oases and framed by dramatic backdrops of snowcapped mountains. We ride along Morocco’s dirt roads, taking us from Marrakech to the Tichka Pass, the highest in the High Atlas, and then southward, descending along the Draa Valley to the fringes of the Sahara Desert.