There was a chilly start for 60 riders at the fourth round of the Manx Mountain Bike Club junior winter XC series. The technical track  at Archallagan made for great racing!

Zac Walker continued to dominate the boys under 8's category finishing first, whilst Mia Dunwell, Nancy Wheeler and Breeshey Gooberman finished in the top 3 in the under 8's girls.

A strong turnout of girls continued with Rebekah Noon, Chloe Crellin, and Blae Cain finishing 1st in their respective categories with Shellan Leeming putting in a strong ride to finish 2nd in the under 10 girls.

The highly competitive under 12's category had Tom Borush and Josh Smith wheel to wheel for most of the race, closely followed by Connor Gelling and a more relaxed Joseph Corkish. A special mention goes to Jack Noon who started from the back to finish a well deserved 8th. The under 10 boys category was won by Will Corkill followed by a consistent Jonty Bregazzi in second and Aaron Lund in third.

Well done to all the riders that took part. The next round is to be held at South Barrule on Sunday 15th February. For more information visit www.manxmtb.com

The Manx Mountain Bike Club would like to thank all the racers, marshals, first aid and organisers. The full results can be found on manxtimingsolutions.com

Work Party at Archallagan Plantation 22nd January 2012 9.00AM

MMBC are continuing to work with DEFA to create additional tracks for use in Archallagan Plantation. MMBC has provided funding for stone and hardcore which has been moved to the Plantation by DEFA. There have been several work parties in the car park area on the tracks around there and at Dan Wood’s new Eairy Kelly valley tracks to the north of the main car park.

We are proposing a further work party on Sunday 22nd January – Please come along and put something back into your sport. We are meeting @ the main Archallagan Car Park (map ref 787308) @ 9am on Sunday 22nd. Please bring a rake or spade if you have one – a barrow can be useful if you have space in the car.

Hopefully a couple of weeks notice will help with another good turnout; thanks is due to DEFA who have provided heavy equipment and manpower to help us with these tracks which has made work happen a lot quicker than if it was just being done by hand. As the notice Shaun Gelling has placed on the Eairy Kelly site says the tracks are not currently open for public use because there are trees across the route that have partially fallen in the recent strong winds but are caught or hung up in other trees and are unstable and may fall at any time.

Please contact Steve Ormerod on 421067 for further info.

Over one hundred riders lined up for the start of the fourth round of the Manx Mountain Bike Clubs XC Winter series,on Sunday . The venue was a freezing cold Archallagan Plantation, and 10.15am saw the start with the Elite class of 13 riders led by Nick Corlett take off up the hill and out onto the 5km course. Elliott Baxter as usual took over the lead and was never matched. From then on, the main fight was between Rob Sorby ,Nick Corlett, and Jake Kelly. On the last lap Sorby had pulled out from the two sixteen year olds but Kelly pulled in at the start/finish area ,leaving Corlett to try and take the fight to Sorby but alas he was too far away and was on survival mode after the ding-dong battle with Kelly.This left Julian Corlett and Ben Corkill to slug it out, Corkill taking the honours. Andy Oram and Simon Skillicorn took the next two places leaving young Nick Corlett to settle for seventh.

The next wave of riders was the popular four lap Sports class. Mark Tuson is making a habit of taking first place in this class from Mark Noon and Paul Flanders who had an unfortunate off at the start when several riders got tangled up! Paul rode the race with a chest injury and wasnt feeling one hundred per cent at the end. Sports Women went to Olympian Marie Morgan, from Paula Gelling and Dawn Kinnish. The two lap novice class was won by Mark Madsen-Mygdal,with John Kneale second and Manx rally champion John Corlett third in his first mountain bike race. The Novice Womens race went to Joanne Glassey from Gaby Cooper and Selena Bostock.

The Youth Boys  14-16 event was the best race of the day. Set over three laps and run alongside the adults race the top three were never more than one hundred yards apart. Jo Haddock led the charge with Leon Mazzone and Nathan Draper close behind. On their second lap they started to reel in the Adult Elite class . To show how quick they were circulating, Jo Haddock posted a fastest lap time of  17.11,only bested by Elliott Baxter and Rob Sorby both Elite riders. At the last hill it looked like a bungee elastic conected these three but Draper got the break into the final single track with Mazzone and Haddock clashing handlebars to fight for second place. The closest finish the MMBC has ever had after 15km of racing these three lads crossed the line all on the timing matt at the same time!!!  The Manx timing solutions electronics say that Draper took the win but Mazzone and Haddock tied for second.

The 2 lap ,12-14 year old Boys race was once more dominated by Owen Dudley who looks to have the championship within his grasp.Mathew Draper gave chase but his totally ridgid bike against Dudleys full suspention bike put him at a diadvantage on the rocky descents of Archallagan.He took a terrific second,pushed hard by Brody Hewison on his new Cannondale 29er.

The under sixteen girls race was went to Elizabeth Holden who is proving to be a talent on both road and forest track.Second went to Sophie Black from third placed Breeshey Cain.

The Manx Mountain Bike Club would like to thank all the riders,Marshals ,First Aid,

and of course Dan for laying out a very fast course.

The full results can be found on manxtimingsolutions.com.

The fourth round of the Manx Mountain Bike Clubs Winter XC Series takes place at Archallagan this Sunday the 15th January.

Sign on is as usual at 8.30 for a 9.00 start for 5-11 year olds split into two races.

The Adults and 12-16 year olds sign on is 9.00 for a 10.15 start.

The format is the ever popular 2-4-6 laps.

14-16 year old Boys will do three laps. All Girls two laps.

Good evening,

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Regards
Tony