Northerndownhill | Alwinton, Round 1

Two weeks ago we were sitting under a blue sky and enjoying temperatures of 23c. What a change in those two weeks though for last week saw blizzards and icicles, the remnants of which were still sat atop the Northumbrian hill near Otterburn, just south of the Scottish border. It may have abated by the weekend but there was still sleet and plenty of rain and wind to keep the conditions challenging. Spikes were of course the tyre of choice, either cut or full but no matter which, something potent and aggressive to bite into the slop was your friend.


Alwinton is a real favourite of the NDH regulars and with good reason, it’s steep, technical and massively challenging terrain keeping riders of all abilities on their toes from start to finish. The first few hundred yards is a little pedally and the next few hundred after that akin to riding through the Somme but once you hit the road crossing all hell breaks loose with the mature trees appearing and the hillside falling away from under you as you head into the switchbacks. The track is really beginning to mature with numerous high lines cut into the camber of the hill which really open out the flow, but only of course if you can get onto them in the first place.


It was easy to be caught out by the numerous roots, grease covered rocks and general slime covering anything and everything that you wanted to put your wheels on. Best described as a controlled crash, there were a lot of riders running the knife edge of grip and many overstepping it too, much to the amusement of onlookers. It’s certainly not a track for those who don’t like steep and greasy but it sure does reward those who do with a pretty special racing experience.


With NDH fast getting a reputation for some of the best uplift in the country thanks to minibuses and special trailers, your bikes are kept damage free and you get plentiful runs in, some managed eight or nine on Saturday alone. There is of course a bit of a push once at the top of the uplift but that’s unavoidable now that the only resident in the forest has taken a dislike to races and uplift going past her window.


With no shortage of practice on Saturday and Sunday morning racing got underway after twelve which allowed for a bit of a long lie after a night on the beer. It may have been a fairly condensed turnout, and there was only one Juvenile, but James Purvis more than made up for that by setting a time of 2:52 which would have seen him podium in Youth. Rowan Carpenter took third in that next category on a 3:02 while Andrew Dorritt took second with a 2: 57 dead. However, it was to Bradley Swinbank that the top spot went, a time of 2:45 being over ten seconds clear of Andrew.


Next up were the Juniors and it was Jack Bell in third having set a time of 2:44 in his first run before troubles in his second took away any chance of going faster. Ruairidh McRitchie was next up in second on a 2:40 but just scraping ahead, despite a crash, was Matty Leggett with a time of 2:38.


Simon Gummer took to the third step in Senior with a 2:41 while Lee Kermode (those of you racing ten years ago might recognise the name) took second with a 2:38. With just under a two second margin was Michael Coupe on the top step. Into Masters now and Jason Cavill was in third with a 2:42 but the real fight was going on nearly ten seconds up the road for first and second place. Alastair Ward was close but ultimately had to settle for second with a 2:33 after Mark Weightman pulled the stops out in his second run to just dip into the ‘32’s and take the win.


Michael Hill In Veterans took third place on a 3:06 which left the way clear for Ian Horton in second with a 3:01 but it was Shaun Kelly to take the win with his second run time of 2:56. One of the many to help out with the NDH, he’s doing his best to convince Carl that the steeper, original, track should be used for the next round which would be awesome to see as it’s a bit of a beast. Unfortunately in the girls there was, like in the Juveniles, a single entry. Was it the reputation of the track that put more off entering? It was a shame but hopefully greater numbers will be out for the rest of the series. It was Melissa Pearson who took the relatively unchallenged win this time.


Into Experts and Brad Illingworth took third with a 2:36 with Pete Walton in second on a 2:34 while it was Calum McRitchie who took the win with a 2:28 having comfortably been the fastest Expert in both runs. Which left just one category; Elite. Scott Mears didn’t have a great first run but improved in his second to cross the line in 2:24 and take third. Jack Reading finally has a new Ellsworth with much more modern geometry and put it to good effect with second in 2:18 while Adam Brayton took fastest time of the day with both his runs sitting comfortably in the 2:13’s.


Fancy trying the track outside a race? Carl has a list of uplift days on his website here and facebook page here, and the best bit is that they’ll only cost you twenty quid. Not bad at all for the huge amount of riding on offer. You could even go for a ride on the original trail. NDH put a lot into developing the courses on offer in the north east, Alwinton being just one example and in October there will be another new track at Kielder – check out this video to see what’s on offer:



Full results on Roots & Rain here