Vattenfall Innerleithen MTB Classic Enduro

After the success of the winter enduro race run by the Innerleithen MTB riders it was clear by the response by the people that entered that they wanted another.  So the guys at Innerleithen MTB riders along with Steve Deas went about creating an event that would be run over 2 days, with 3 trails being raced on the Saturday and 3 on the Sunday, along with a fun packed dual slalom on the Saturday night.  Saturday’s trails were more about technical skills and fitness where as Sunday’s were more about the downhill side of things.  I managed to get across and take a few shots on the Saturday before heading up to Glencoe for the BDS downhill race on the Sunday which I had to got to but due to the extreme weather up there practice was all that they could manage.  So this meant I could hot foot it back home and catch the tail end of the racing on Sunday which was being held in the glorious sunshine albeit a tad windy.

First trail was to open at 12.30pm on the Saturday and due to the heavy rain that morning this meant it was going to be a tricky one with all those off camber rooty sections before dropping down into the more loamy loose open parts, then it was across the fire road into the small trees and yet more loose loamy ground but also some more roots to contend with.

Gary Forrest took the win this weekend putting all his downhill skills to good use.

The start of the second trail was a good peddle away from the finish of the first, you had to make your way up to almost the heather line up on the minch where you then dropped down into the small fir trees and down some more new sections built by Steve and Rich who along with all the others put a hell of a lot of man hours into these trails. They were going to drop this trail into the inter stella track but due the amount of rain lately decided against that idea, which is a shame as it’s such a great track in the dry.

Emma Guy taking the ladies win by a clear 5 minutes over Joe Cardwell

From the bottom of the 2nd trail you then had a bit of a cycle to get back up to the top of Plora Rig to start the 3rd and last of the day, this trail took you down the back to the old xc trail then head towards the circles in the heather but take a left down the xc trail to the fire road and that was you done for the Saturday.

Nial Morrison took the junior win and the junior slalom win on the Saturday night.

As I wasn’t really around on Sunday here’s a few words from the Innerleithen MTB riders site

On Sunday there were some tired legs in the carpark, but nothing could keep the riders back from the challenge of the Aim-up, Traquair Arms and Innerleithen MTB Racing stages, and it was all smiles as they finished at the bottom of the hill in the sunshine.

After a fun afternoon of racing, Gary Forrest took the victory in the overall with a finishing time of 28.51. Crawford Carrick-Anderson won the Vets race in 28.59, Niall Morrison the Juniors in 34.50. Emma Guy was fastest woman of the weekend with a time of 39.06. Cash prizes and bike clocks went to the fastest male and female riders and vouchers from Alpine Bikes for the rest of the podium places. Full results are available here.
We spoke to Gary after the race: “I had a great race, rode pretty clean and only made one mistake when I lost my bike on a corner so happy with that. It was good to race on some nice natural trails, Steve at i-Cycles designed a cracking course”.

Colin Ormston, Vattenfall’s Head of Onshore Wind Development UK who presented the prizes on Sunday said: “Vattenfall are really pleased to get behind this event which provides such a unique mountainbiking experience. It has been a fantastic weekend and by supporting the Vattenfall Innerleithen Classic Enduro as part of our continued commitment to the community we hope to contribute to success of building sustainable tourism in the Scottish Borders.”

The organisers Innerleithen MTB Racing would like to extend their thanks to Vattenfall for supporting their event and their ongoing support to the community, and to all the local people who helped to run the event and contributed to a brilliant weekend at the Vattenfall Innerleithen Classic Enduro.