Last weekend saw Round 4 of the PMBA Enduro Series at Kirroughtree in Scotland, one of the well know ‘7 Stanes’ trail centres. I’d never been to Kirroughtree before, in fact I’ve not done any riding in Scotland other than at Fort William, Inners and Glentress, so I was super keen to check out the venue! The trail centre was voted MBR trail of the year back in 2010 and with word of new and improved trails since then I knew we were in for a good round.

Although this round was only a one day race, I would have ideally liked to have driven up on Saturday morning to check out the venue and maybe ride some sections of trail the day before, but unfortunately work needed me! No bother though, a bit of an early finish allowed me to crack off the 4 hour drive from South Manchester and get there in time to cook some food for the evening. I travelled up with my mate, Junior racer Jake Gilfillan (Knolly bikes, Wet Lettuce racing), and we were both feeling good after our 1st place finishes at the previous PMBA round at Lee Quarry. The midges were out in force as they seem to be every time I race in Scotland! I don’t know if the locals are immune but I always seem to get bitten to pieces by the little fellas, so that prompted an early night’s sleep which was no bad thing!

The PMBA Enduro may only be a one day race, but people travel from far and wide...hence the reason for the campsite
Round #4 at Kirroughtree may only have been a one day race, but people travel from far and wide…hence the reason for the campsite
Martha Gill mashing around the course. The Stan's NoTubes/Marin rider and came up 2nd in the runnings
Martha Gill mashing around the course. The Stan’s NoTubes/Marin rider and came up 2nd in the runnings

Sunday morning was an early start and a lap of the course for Jake and I to check out the stages and see what we had in stall for the race. I’m usually pretty good at forgetting something every time I go to a race and this weekend was no exception, I forgot most of my food meaning that breakfast was rice and bolognaise sauce out of a tin that I found kicking around in the van…don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. The 10 mile lap was welcome after the 20 odd mile beast of a lap at Lee Quarry at the previous round and it meant that we could do a full lap including sectioning of the stages and be finished before lunch time and race time, which is a great format and one of the many reasons that these events work so well and get such great feedback. True to the weather forecast the rain was on and off all morning and continued until the early afternoon.

Stage 1 started with some flowy trail centre single track, with a few sneaky inside lines on corners that had been intentionally left available by the course tapers and would prove handy for race runs. This quickly dropped you into an uphill loamy sprint which unfortunately became a bit of a bog with the weather as it was. After laying the horsepower down on the uphill there were awesome fresh-cut loamy corners, followed by some more hard-pack trail centre and a steep loamy finish. Overall a great stage with a great mix of all trail types. I pushed hard on my race run down this stage and ended up blowing out a lot of the rooty muddy corners and having to unclip loads, which cost me a lot of time and flow, but I felt strong and managed to stay on the bike most importantly!

Stage 2 was fresh-cut loam all the way and was so rad to ride with some awesome sketchy corners towards the bottom. Sections of loamy corners were broken up with short fire-road sprints and meant that racing this stage was super physical and proved a bit of an issue for me during race runs! I had a big week of riding prior to this race and was a bit tired coming into it. I got my pacing all wrong on this stage and pushed way too hard at the top, which meant that by the middle of the stage I had burnt all my candles and was just surviving the rest of the way down, haha. Not ideal and a solid reminder that pacing yourself on the longer stages really does pay off.

A mixture of drops, berms and open sprint sections littered the five stage race
A mixture of drops, berms and open sprint sections littered the four stage race
Stage 2 featured some...interesting bits and bobs.
“Stage 2 was fresh-cut loam all the way and was so rad to ride with some awesome sketchy corners towards the bottom.”
"Sections of loamy corners were broken up with short fire-road sprints and meant that racing this stage was super physical and proved a bit of an issue for me during race runs!"
“Sections of loamy corners were broken up with short fire-road sprints and meant that racing this stage was super physical and proved a bit of an issue for me during race runs!”

Stage 3 was the best stage of the weekend and the most fun by far. Fast fresh loam corners right from the beginning had you hauling towards a long section of flowy trail centre hard-pack, before firing into such a cool section of fast rooty corners and finally finishing on another section of fast trail centre single-track. This was a long stage but with not much line choice to worry about, meaning that you could just push hard from the start and not worry about anything other than having an awesome time. It was so much fun racing down this stage and I had a clean run with no mistakes which had me grinning again ready for stage 4.

Stage 4, the final stage, was similar to stage 3 with a 50/50 spilt of fresh cut trail and hard-pack trail centre, which in my opinion is the best way to tape these Enduro stages as it means that a wide range of skills and fitness are needed if you want to put down a super-quick time. Another mint stage that started on fresh trail and was fast all the way down, with a trail centre lower half. I gave this stage everything I had left in the tank on the pedals and had such a laugh on the way down, loved it!

"Fast fresh loam corners right from the beginning had you hauling towards a long section of flowy trail centre hard-pack, before firing into such a cool section of fast rooty corners and finally finishing on another section of fast trail centre single-track."
“Fast fresh loam corners right from the beginning had you hauling towards a long section of flowy trail centre hard-pack, before firing into such a cool section of fast rooty corners and finally finishing on another section of fast trail centre single-track.”

The grippy Schwalbe Magic Mary tyre on the front paired with the faster rolling Schwalbe Hans Dampf on the rear worked a treat at this race and seemed the perfect combination for the different trail types and the mud. Overall a really fun and tiring days racing left me with a 3rd place finish in Pro Elite which I was stoked with given that my first two stages had been not so great! Jake ended up with a rad 4th place finish in Junior meaning a podium for the both of us, buzzing!! The super reliable Scott Genius LT bike rode like a dream on all of the stages. After podiums were done and dusted with some great prizes provided by the series sponsors the only decision left for me and Jake to make was which service station to stop at for tea on the way home, Tebay, an M&S or a Burger King. Mikes advice had us considering an M&S, but a last minute decision had us munching on well-deserved post-race dirty burgers at the first service station on the motorway! Love it.

Big shout out to Mike, Kev, and everybody involved in the organisation of this event, it was a blast. Such a great chilled out atmosphere, these guys know how to put on a fun event. Kirroughtree is a great venue and I will be back for sure, the tracks were some of the best that I have raced this year. Nice one guys!
Cheers, Cal

Results

Pro Mens
1. Sam Flockhart | Xtreme MTB
2. Gareth Montgomerie | Studio Velo
3. Callum Dew | Pioneer Scott Syncros
4. Tom Braithwaite
5. Alex Holowko

Womens
1. Fay Jordan | RAF CA-CSR
2. Martha Gill | Marin/Stan’s NoTubes
3. Polly Henderson | Next Level Bikes
4. Sofia Christiansen | Team Breakpad
5. Sam Hill | Team Breakpad

For more info, visit: borderline-events.co.uk

Words & Photos: Borderline Events


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