No Fuss Events, supported by Chain Reaction Cycles, held the 10 Under the Ben endurance mountain bike at the Nevis Range, Scotland, over the weekend where almost 800 riders attempted to complete as many laps as they could on the 10-mile course, over 10 hours.
For the past seven years, 10 Under the Ben has been a firm favourite on the UK Endurance race calendar and has enjoyed dry, dusty and sun-drenched conditions…2011 was a little different!
The No Fuss crew had many a sleepless night towards the end of last week, with the weather seemingly hitting the slopes of Aanoch Mor relentlessly for the 36 hours leading up to the race.
On Saturday morning, nearly 800 participants gathered at the Nevis Range to take on the challenging course, and with a huge range of abilities and machinery on show, the transition area was an eclectic mix of serious racers and weekend warriors – all of whom were in high spirits despite the huge challenge ahead. And of course, the rain!
The course for 2011 saw No Fuss introduce a number of new natural sections into the course – a welcome addition, but with the weather, the question was would they hold up? The ‘Le Mans’-style start from the far end of the car park became the focus of the morning, with bike positioning, arrangements for transition changeover and race strategy being the main talking points.
Like 2010, the sun shone (well tried to) just enough to get the race underway, but within an hour the rain had started once again and the natural sections of the course were starting to break up, becoming a tough technical test. With a few minor adaptations the route around the foot of Ben Nevis held up with some wise work by Spook and Fraser from No Fuss to keep the race going.
The mix of solo, pair, trio and quad entrants provided a sight to behold for the transition at the end of each lap. Refreshments, re-clothing, repairs and course updates all happened at lightning pace as competitors tried to make their way through the start/finish area as fast as possible.
Greig Brown followed up last year’s victory with another win in the Solo Male category ahead of Chris Lever and Kenny Kentley who finished third and fourth, respectively. In the Female Solo race, Hannah Barnes took the honours, improving on her second place last year. Sandra Scally came second with Annie Lloyd-Evans finishing third.
Robert Friel and Robert Wardell (Team Tanned and Handsome) took the Pairs victory ahead of Mike Coward and Jason Hynd (Velo29 Cycling Team) who finished second. Mark Bolton and Carl Draper from the aptly named ‘Bringing up the Rear’ team took third.
Wayne Barr, Matt Lock and Ally Booth (Velocity 44 Stirling) topped the Trio podium with an excellent 12-lap effort in a time of 10:02:56. Anthony Windle, Sam Farrar, Gemma Sargent (Arragons Cycles Race team) finished second, with ‘The 3 Mustgetbeers’ team of Robin Munro, Eddie Balfour and Drew Graham taking third.
James Shirley, Gavin Shirley, Liam Maynihan and Geoff Martin (Glencroft Rabble Orange) worked in harmony to bring home the win in the Quad category ahead of Bob McGuire, Jackie McGuire, Ian Nimmo, Elke Schmidt (Squadra Porcini) and Ian Robson, Kevin Rutter, Michael Wooldridge and David Turner (Fourplay).
Congratulations to all who took part – we hope to see you over the summer (what summer?) at the next No Fuss Event.
That pretty much sums it up
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