The Hope / PMBA Enduro series headed north and over the border into Scotland for round five, with the 300 racers enjoying a great day of racing on five fun and diverse stages.
Coming into the weekend the event organisers had worked hard with the venue to tape and cut in 7 stages taking in a mixture of the well-known rocky Kirroughtree trail centre sections whilst throwing in plenty of fresh cut sections through the woods that rutted and changed throughout the day, catching out many. Unfortunately due to high winds in the run-up to the event, the Foresty Commission couldn’t guarantee it was safe to run two stages which had been buffeted by the wind, meaning the tough but correct decision to cull these stages was made.
The day remained largely dry which kept the trails fairly consistent in terms of grip levels, with the greasy conditions on the fresh cut being dragged onto the rocks and in doing so making the slabs rather lethal, brake or turn at your peril! A mix of 300 racers across all the categories made the trip to Kirroughtree just outside Newton Stewart in Dumfries, the series regulars made the drive North and camped out over Saturday night, whilst on race day some fast Scottish pinners joined the fray.
In the elite men there was a tight battle all day with times swapping stage after stage, at the close of play the top four were covered by a measly 10 seconds. It was Callum Russell for Borderline / Continental who came out on top with 4 seconds over Sam Farrar and a further 3 back to Greg Jolliffe. ENDURO Mag racer Stuart Wilcox took 3 stage wins but a dropped chain on stage two kept him back in fourth, he was joined on the podium by Kona’s Thomas Mitchell. The fastest time of the day went to Josh Hurley in senior with a blistering total time just over 10 minutes!
Whilst in the Open Women Becky Cook was looking fast and comfortable out on track all day and the results sheets at the end of the day reflected this with a clean sweep of stage wins and a massive margin of over a minute back to second place. But it was perhaps the rider in second place who had the ride of the day, 15-year-old Female Riders Team’s Polly Henderson stormed to a comfortable second, showing she is undoubtedly one to watch for the future. The final 3 spots on the podium were a tight battle, one mistake and you would drop a position… In the end, it was Eilidh Wells followed by Katie Clark and Roslynn Newman rounding out the podium steps.
Full results can be found on Roots & Rain.
Next up for the Hope / PMBA Enduro Series in GNAR Bike Park in Cumbria, head to the Hope / PMBA Enduro Series for more information.
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Words: Photos: Nick Moor / HDDN
