Tuesday December 16, 2014 at 12:56pm
‘This is Enduro! Eighteen miles of unrelenting torture, a proper old-school extreme course. It’s what the EWC should be, if those lads came to this event, only a handful would finish!’ said David Knight with mud and sweat still dripping off him as winner of the inaugural Heads of the Valleys Extreme Enduro at Walters Arena in South Wales last weekend.
Amid plenty of hype and great expectations the time for talk was over as Paul Edmondson and Nick Plumb’s vision turned to reality on Sunday and was acclaimed as the toughest extreme event in the UK by any rider who had enough breath left to speak. Walters Arena is truly massive and eighteen miles could have been made longer but both organisers didn’t want to go too mad for a first event! They even conceded to a minibus to ferry spectators around between the sections, apparently with an ex-WRC competitor as driver according to some passengers, no time was wasted in getting around the fire roads!
In a landscape dominated by big hills stretching into the distance, huge forests and even larger wind turbines the course wended its way up and down rocky ravines, river beds and through forest sections that were near impossible to clamber up on foot, let alone on a bike, along fast, flat-out fire roads which turned quickly into a seemingly never ending succession of heart-breaking special sections.
The two-day event really was a game of two halves. Saturdays 8-mile qualifying loop was relatively easy going compared to Sunday. Utilising the numerous fire roads at the venue Saturdays racers enjoyed mixed conditions as a heavy overnight frost delayed the start by an hour until the sun thawed the course but in the tree covered areas it was still sketchy for the unwary riders. Getting into the top 25 was all important, a place in the first row of the grid was at stake and many riders settled for that but the real fast guys wanted the glory of winning qualifying and really went for it.
With fast flowing sections in many places the speed merchants came to the fore and Expert rider Carl Jones grabbed his moment of glory, twice, by setting the fastest time on both qualifying runs, a mix of talent, speed and a touch of insanity saw him throw caution to the winds to become the only rider to post two sub-eight-minute runs, beating the likes of Ash Greedy and Knighter who were both giving their all.
Greedy eventually qualified as second overall closely followed by David Knight as local hero David Kip-Herring grabbed fourth place, just ahead of Jack Edmondson. One of the two favourites for Sunday, Graham Jarvis, finished in a lowly 12th place but it was plenty good enough for a place on the front row in the big event. Jack Cadwallader had two brilliant qualifying runs to take seventh spot as the top Clubman rider on the day. Neil Duffy did well for an old bloke. He was top Veteran, ahead of plenty of Experts. Brad Lilburn headed up the Youth class while Fred Adams took the Sportsman top spot.
Normal weather conditions returned for Sunday’s big race, it poured down all night and only stopped just before the 10.00am start time making some of the woodland section slippier than when they were frozen. Pro and Expert riders had three laps ahead of them while the Clubmen, Vets and the rest had just two.
A short start straight led to an uphill series of rock steps before getting out into the main course. Hitting hard right from the start Knighter and Graham Jarvis were side by side as they hit the steps with Knighter just pulling a bikes length clear at the top of the following small climb. Big Joe Chambers was in the mix, grabbing third spot ahead of many surprised rivals as Ash Greedy stuffed it at the steps and Jack Edmondson missed his kick-start, twice, to give himself plenty of work to do in catching the pack ahead of him.
Within half a mile the front-runners hit the first of many rock sections, twisting steeply downhill, and it was Knight who lead the way with Jarvis just a handful of seconds behind him and Chambers in third. Expert Chris Windle had kept ahead of the mayhem but then had a bit of a moment on the rocks, which allowed Gary Daniels and the pack to close on him. Carl Jones and Ross Hancox were side-by-side down each step followed by Jack Cadwallader who nearly ended his day before it started with a massive wobble halfway down. At this point Jack Edmondson appeared, well back in the pack but he soon made some ground as he rode feet-up top to bottom of the rock steps.
Mayhem ensured as rows three four and five all hit this first challenge but they made it through mostly unscathed to begin the first of many climbs up the shale and flint banks and into the woodland leading to the biggest hill on the course and the toughest climb.
In true Erzberg fashion there were plenty of helpers with ropes who were fully employed throughout the day hauling almost every rider up at some point. Gary Daniels was possibly the only rider who didnt need their assistance as he flew to the top of the long and slippery hill lap after lap.
A field of tree stumps led to a woodland section paved with fallen logs followed by water-filled ruts which consistently caught riders out as they relaxed slightly after negotiating the logs.
At the far side of the course was a treacherous stream section, which held a series of rock steps, all with a drop of around eight feet and cascading with water from the torrential overnight rain. Knighter hit this at the one-hour mark on his second lap, riding feet-up from top to bottom and negotiating several fallen and stuck riders.
Spectators watched in awe then reached for their watches to see how long it would take for Jarvis to appear. Paul Edmondson reckoned on at least an hour a lap for the top riders, but that had been shattered by the big Manxman. He did his first lap in 43 minutes and had completed a lap and a quarter on the hour mark and gained a 9-minute lead over his nearest rival at that point.
Maintaining his momentum Knight stuck around the 40-minute mark for his two remaining laps and completed the race in just over two hours, still nearly nine minutes clear of second placed Graham Jarvis while David Kip-Herring grabbed third in the Pro class some 11 minutes after Jarvis. Gary Daniels rode to a superb fourth spot, just over 15 minutes ahead of Jack Edmondson in fifth.
Expert rider Luke Flack took fifth overall and the top Expert place ahead of ben Wibberly and Chris Windle who was followed home by Sam Ludgate and Keelan Hancox.
Top spot for the two-lappers went to Wynn Hughes who showed that even as a Veteran he has lost none of his considerable talent and still knows how to make it to the top. He finished just seconds ahead of the top Clubman rider Tom Herring. Brian Till nailed the Sportsman class win while Brad Lilburn took the Youth class by storm. The rain returned in force as Knight crossed the finish line, making it a harder slog for the riders still out on the massive course.
This was an epic event in every sense of the word. The planning and organisation were spot on and tested fully as the weather went from freezing to drowning. Paul Edmondson and Nick Plumb worked extremely hard and must be very satisfied to know that in the opinion of most riders, it was the best extreme event ever run in the UK. If you finished this event, you were a winner not matter where you placed.
The final words must go to the winner David Knight, who knows a thing or two about enduros of all kinds: ‘Mint day at Heads of the Valleys, I realised again today why I actually ride and race motorbikes, It was a huge reminder to me that the sport I fell in love with still does exist now and then and that the true ‘Hero's of Enduro’ still do exist, the weekend riders, the ones that fight to get there and grit their teeth and make it to the finish at all costs, it was great to see and it was an awesome event. Well done to everyone who finished, even the guy who I used for grip in the river, to the marshals helpers and organisers and the enduro fans who stood out and froze all weekend. This event really did make me smile a lot.’
Report and Image by fasteddyracing.com