NDH Enduro Hamsterley – Feb 2015

Chris Lazenby headed to Hamsterley Forest for the NDH Enduro. A cold, misty winter morning didn’t put him off. Check out his report.

Getting up at 5 am on a cold and misty winter’s morning isn’t normally easy but when it’s for the first race of the season, it makes it easier. The whole journey there was in and out of fog, including a section of A1 strewn with a discarded lorry tyre in the middle of the carriageway. Luckily the van remained intact and we got to the event unscathed.

Carl’s one day enduro events include practice in the morning and a three stage race in the afternoon. Hamsterley Forest as a lot on offer, both trail centre sections and the DH runs at Descend. This variety is good when it comes to race venues and helps to stop reputation.

Stage one, ‘The Edge’ is one of Descend Hamsterley’s trails, from the top to the bottom of the bike park. The top section is straightforward trail, a little tight between the trees and a few new sections added in to keep it fresh. After the fire-road crossing things change, a bit of boardwalk and then the rocky and narrow bench cut that gives the trail its name.

Stage two was the well known ’Transmission’ trail centre descent which forms part of the red route around Hamsterley Forest. This is a popular stage and encompasses three different sections. The first is from the mast down and contains a few jumps and flowing bermed corners. After a little fire-road blast and into ‘Accelerator’, this section seams quite flat as you’re riding it but as the name suggests it’s very easy to pick up speed here before a quick visit back to the fire-road before the last section to the finish.

Stage three started on ‘Section 13’ near the start of the 4cross track, this is another section of red trail centre. At the end of this section the stage turned left along a particularly long fire-road sprint which ruined the unfit among the crowd (me). From here it turned right back into the real stuff, back into the work of Descend Hamsterley. This was my favourite section, natural trail with plenty of mud and roots.

Both sign-on and practice opened on time which is always a good way to start the day. I was keen to get going as it was the first race of the season. I proceeded straight to the start of stage one after signing on and I was first there, not normal for me. Carl is well known for running relaxed events and this one proved to be no different. As soon as practice started all the stages were open to ride as you pleased. With the nature of the stages it would seem that most people concentrated on stages one and three as these included the DH sections. I got the impression that most people knew stage two so stayed clear of it in practice.

The relaxed nature of these events continued into the afternoon too. No set start times for individual riders, just stage open and close times. While this means you can ride with your mates, it does have a slight downside – the initial queue to begin at stage 1. Everyone clearly had the same idea, get there first and get going early. There was a bit of an advantage to this as the non trail-centre sections of trails were getting a little cut up in places but not too bad. As the race progressed the field got spread out and the queuing wasn’t an issue, with only a few minutes to wait for stage 2 and a little longer for stage 3. Just long enough to get over the climb but not long enough to get cold in the wind and fog. From the start of stage one, I was unaware of any incidents during the racing so no major accidents to report as far as I know.

A big thanks goes out to Carl and his team at Northern Downhill. It takes a lot of time and energy to put these events on, before, during and after the race. Keep up the good work team, and see you at the next one.

Results

14-18 Boys
Scott Woolley – 11:12:94
Tom Hardy – 11:23:25
James Edmond – 11:37:36

19-29 Men
Danny Hart – 9:22:24
Joe Young – 10:12:03
Rob Young – 10:19:26

30-39 Men
Brad Illingworth – 10:31:51
Liam Little – 10:44:36
Matthew Jones – 11:00:18

40+ Men
Ian Cation – 10:58:96
Zac Hubery – 11:01:93
Alun Morley – 11:27:68

Open Women
Helen Gaskell – 11:47:05
Lucy Bell – 13:46:42
Melissa Pearson – 14:29:68

For full results please visit www.rootsandrain.com

For more news on Northern Downhill including future events – www.northerndownhill.co.uk

Photos – Victoria Dawe – www.victoriadawephotography.com