POC Scottish Enduro Series Round 3 – A Race To The Ocean In Costa-Del-Dunoon

The next day of racing saw the racers take on the main stages, travelling from the mountain to the sea, five tough stages taking in everything from fast and ragged clearfell, to deep and steep woodland gnar fests. The weather had not been kind, leading into the event heavy rain had churned up the ground and the freshly-cut buff trails had morphed into crank deep ruts that needed confidence and a low survival instinct to hit at speed. There are some stages that flow like hot butter, that carry you effortlessly from one sculpted turn to the next. Stages Three and Six were nothing like that at all! A barrage of roots, ruts and holes bombarded most riders into submission, ejecting them over the finish line wearing tufts of foliage like camo, babbling feverishly about midges the size of tennis balls and asking what day it was. In contrast, the remaining stages were fast and open, fast turns through the technical terrain, all the time exposed to sweeping views of the Firth of Clyde. After a tough day, smiling faces rode down the sun bleached promenade to the finish, another round in the bag. Mud smeared clothing exposed those who had enjoyed a fair few lie downs – dirty faces, scorched skin and thousand yard stares were worn with honour as icecreams and beers were consumed with relish on the picturesque pier, Dunoon had delivered.

The results

Full results can be found here:

This would be an important round for the series, gaining momentum valuable points were on the table. This is the point where campaigns are started, or even solidified. In the elite men’s category, it has been a one-horse race. Trek Factory Racing’s Lewis Buchanan is lit this season and is running away with the overall, putting 30 seconds into the field and making it three races three wins. Sam Flockhart has finally found his fifth gear and took a solid second place with Christo Gallagher not far behind. In the women’s race, despite some big mechanicals Janey Kennedy took the win, but look at those juniors, Elena Melton and Niamh Doherty took the fastest times of the day with some solid runs – future champions no doubt. Corey Watson again showed his calibre, taking the win in the junior males, putting down a time that would have seen him take 9th in the elites were he old enough. Paul French took the win in the Grand Vets, Darren Scott the Veteran Males, Julia Ferguson the Veteran Females, Nick Barber the Masters, Moray Goodfellow the Senior Males, Derek Laughland the Super Grand Vet Male and a special mention needs to go to Ian Churchill who won the hardtail category – purgatory for sure.