10 at Kirroughtree Race Report

Heavy rain and treacherous conditions did nothing to dampen the spirits of the team of riders representing the Isle of Man at the NoFuss Events 10 hour Race at Kirroughtree.

Part of the Seven Staines network of purpose built mountain bike trails around Scotland, Kirroughtree has some of the best singletrack in the British Isles. The course for the race was a 17km lap, consisting of a series steep rooty descents, rock steps and rock fields all joined together by fantastic singletrack. Heavy overnight rain, and rain during the day left conditions in some parts of the course almost unridable, it was probably the most technical and certainly the toughest any of the Manx contingent had faced.

Over 500 entrants, which included teams of 4, 3, 2 and solos, all competed to ride as many laps of the course as they could in the time of 10 hours

Congratulations for fantastic riding goes to the following; Kale Hawkins who came in at an impressive fourth overall and Julian Corlett who came second in the Veterans Class, which turned out to be sixth overall . A closely contested battle for positions had  the duo of Polaris Veterans - Guy Whaley and Nigel Morris finishing 6th and 7th place respectively in the Veterans Class. Nikki Lane, the only lady of the group, rode to a fantastic 5th place in the Ladies Class -105th over all and so another great achievement. Steve Smith also had an impressive solo ride coming in 62nd   ,followed by Phil Mackie  in 71st and Chris Watson 98th. An all-round excellent performance by the Manx riders in a class of 126 solo riders.

In the Team event brothers Steve and Adrian Ormerod came in 89th out of 111,a fine achievement considering Steve was still recovering from his wrist operation and two had not ridden together since Kirroughtree last year.

All in all it was a fantastic trip with the Manx riders putting in great performances.

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