Durham University Cycling Club

Saturday saw the first round of the Kielder Mountain Marathon series. At 50km, this was always going to be a tough race, however course changes brought about some interesting results.

With only three representatives from Durham-AURA, the race was more about testing legs than anything else.  Kat Broadbent was racing in category B, along with the previous winner of last year’s series. Despite being her first event of this kind, Kat had a great first lap. However during the second lap she stacked it on a rock drop, and came down hard on her head. Unfortunately (although probably the best decision) the race marshals decided to pull Kat out. For Kat however this was sufficient to at least take something good away from the event, as the route was far more technical than expected, and she was coping well.

The course itself was a mixture of red and black trails, with some pretty difficult rock gardens to negotiate, which resulted in a few riders opting to run through these sections. Each lap, the riders had to endure some steep ascents up technical trails, followed by long slogs on fire roads. These were interspersed with snippets of great technical descent, but what goes down must invariably go back up. The latter section was almost all fire road, which included some large loose rocks. Most riders suffered pinch punctures at some point, however a canny (or rather lucky) descision by Matt Wilson to run a high tyre pressure paid off, and he rode puncture free all race.

In the category A men’s race were Alex Bedwell and Matt Wilson. Unfortunately Alex also suffered from a crash related injury and had to retire, leaving Matt to slog on. A severe lack of motivation, played its part in causing Matt to lose lots of time in the first lap. The second lap was started in a better, more determined mood, however this was short lived, as he then stacked it round a switchback, suffering a knee injury. As the adrenaline kicked in, this minor injury could be ignored and he was soon back on the bike. After a faster second lap, the third saw the onset of cramp, and the last painful 30 minutes were spent riding through it.

Overall, the race was carnage. The turnout is never high for the first round, and this year was no exception. 40 riders started, and only 25 finished. Matt rolled in at 20^th, in the exact same position as last year within his class. So overall not an overly successful race, however, the racing season is only just beginning…

February saw the start of the 2010 Kielder Mountain Marathon series with the Kielder Winter Warmer, and the Durham mini-race for BUCS champs places. After being delayed due to bad weather, everyone was raring to go; even if there was still a crisp layer of snow on the higher tracks. The format was pretty standard for kielder, however this time the race started with a ‘non-competitive’ section along the reservoir. This allowed some of the speed merchants to get ahead, including a GB rider, in full GB skin-suit (I’ve gotta’ get me one of those. . .). Then came the first big climb. Out of the Durham riders Matt Wilson went for a quick start, followed closely by Tom Hards. Towards the top of the climb the race left fire-road and joined a singletrack trail. To many peoples ‘disappointment’ the GB rider had a mechanical and took the walk of shame back down the trail.

The snow on the higher tracks was a good 6” thick, and any rider straying from the tracks cut by a landrover earlier had a hard time keeping their bikes upright. After a promising start, Matt then had a puncture, and due to a broken pump relinquished place after place. Eventually, as what was possibly the last rider went past, he was on his way again.

Lizzie Dingle also had a good start, but was chasing her shadow for first place in the women’s B category for the whole race.
There were very few technical sections in the race, one or two steep muddy sections, but nothing to cause major problems. What was really hurting riders was the length, and it was taking its toll on riders by the last lap. After chasing teammates all race Matt finally caught Tom, and both riders subsequently cramped up repeatedly, with screams (erm, shouts of pain) more at home in a horror film than a mountain marathon. Eventually, Matt took the lead in the Durham mini-race, failing to notice Tom falling off and becoming trapped in his own bike. Thank you to the guy who rescued him from that! With the finish line a stones-throw away, Matt stacked it three times in the space of 20 meters (a new record?) But still kept a lead of 90 seconds over Tom.

The big story was Lizzie winning the B category with a very respectable time.

So, the final standings:
Matt Wilson -3h43-21st
Tom Hards -3h44-23rd
Andrew Charlesworth -4h04-30th
Lizzie Dingle -4h30-38th