Triscombe Revisited: Riders Unite To Pay Back Landowners

With the bankruptcy and end to the UK Enduro season now being old news, but still leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of all involved, everyone just wants to move on from this situation and put it down to bad judgement of a character. Neil Delafield left in his wake a whole list of disgruntled folk, after it emerged he never paid marshals, the Forestry Commission, landowners, and even kept products donated by series sponsors. There was however a bit of light at the end of the tunnel!

When it came to all the money in race entries that was never returned to perspective race entrants, UK Enduro timing people Event Bright stepped up to the mark and refunded every rider who had paid for races that never went ahead; this was a fantastic move by them and very well received. The Forestry Commission have their own insurances in place for such issues, so it would appear they too were refunded (in a way!) But the landowners of the Triscombe Lodge, where one such round was held, still ended up way out of pocket, after never having received a penny for use of their glorious stately home and ex-boarding school for event HQ, kitchens plus rider digs for overnight stays. Now these guys own a lot of the surrounding land where the races were ran and are held in high regard in the local area, so to say they were pissed with mountain bikers in general (after not getting paid) was an understatement and really not good for local riders and the chance of any future events being held in the area.

So this is where local rider Lee Carter stepped in, this guy is well known to the shredders of Triscombe and a general all round top bloke. He had got involved in the first place, scoping tracks for the UK Enduro and being a kind of middle man for the set up of the UK Enduro round there. So although feeling angry and let down by Neil’s actions Lee stepped up to the mark and rallied the troops, organising another race there (a bit more mates race style) where all donations were to go to the folk at the lodge to reinstall faith and trust in the local MTB community.

The event went ahead as planned and was a true success, as locals turned up to do battle in the fantastic trails of the local woodland. Everyone was happy and buzzing to be able to unite together and do battle all in to help the lodge owners and restore a good relationship between riders and land owners.

We caught up with Lee to get a few words off him about his efforts.

Was there a noticeable fallout/aftermath after the liquidation of UK Enduro?

In short yes! We are a tight community and the news spread fast. Then the skeletons started to come out of the woodwork and people began to see the UK Enduro organisation for what it was. The next step began when people tried get refunds to no evale at first, but now have through Everbrite. I was then informed by the Forestry Commission of the situation he had left our local area in. Owing the 80 year old owner of Quantock Lodge £3000 and the FC £1000.

So tell me, why you have decided to take the helm in raising funds for the Lodge?

Someone had to do something, I’m fortunate enough to be in a position with the local FC and residents that I could get the ball rolling quickly, so I felt I should step up and help. Plus I could see the riding community didn’t want to stand back and do nothing. I just created a channel for people to show their support. As a boy I was always taught that evil only prospers when good men do nothing.

Do you believe that this is a step forwards in mountain biker/land user relations?

In our local area yes, but the cycling community is always doing stuff like this to help others. We have been working very closely with the FC and local residents over the past 18 months and this can only be a positive light for the riders. No-one wanted UK ENDURO to be a representation of what mountainbiking is about and how we act. We wanted everyone to know his actions were out of order.

Do you think that the land-using community can unify in making the area a better place for all?

In the triscombe area we have nearly achieved this somewhat and are in the fine tuning stages (even though its been a long hard process) and this act by the community shows fantastic untiy and progression. We work together on everyday issues a lot, like making trail exits safer and more visible and hold regular user group meetings to discuss any issues and upcoming events. It’s not all rosy though, but our system is diplomatic and seems to work. The main key is communication and understanding you can’t please everyone.

Have you achieved your goals in holding the race?

One small goal yes, but I have alot more I want to achieve. With the strength of the local community I think the sky is the limit. I plan to try and make this a regular charity event to help raise funds for local charity’s and people in need of help and there’s even discussions going on at the moment about running a grass roots racing series as well, with another local events company in 2017. My personal goal was Triscombe’s racing future, if we had left the lodge without helping, then the owners, who told me “never again would MTB’S be allowed to use the lodge”, then they would never said racing can continue from Quantock Lodge, so it thinks that’s the biggest success for me.

I would just like to thank everyone who made this day possible. Scott Fitzgerald from Southern Enduro for providing all the tape and number boards, as well as using his insurance for the race and all out of his own pocket. Then there’s The Forestry Commission for being so supportive and helping out in any way they can. and finally Ampedcycleworx and Mudhugger, both these local companies stepped straight up to help the cause and offered up anything they could to make this event a success. They offered up massive amounts of swag as well for the lucky winners.

Photos: Liam Mercer

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