Halo BDS rd3 Glencoe Practice.

They say a picture says a thousand words. This picture is a tribute to the unsung heroes of racing, The Marshals. There to make sure everyone is safe and all is fair. This also sums up today racing at Glencoe and the beautiful Scottish weather. At least there were no midges! Many thanks to Keith Valentine for this, who as you read this is still drying out his clothing and camera equipment,


Halo British Downhill Series round 3 at Glencoe, Scotland is for many a track that had been driven past at 70mph. Glancing left and hit the throttle as Fort William is less than 30minutes away, it's usually time to keep on trucking...

328 riders were on the start list and with winds battering Scotland earlier in the week saw carnage up here with bridges closed, trees down and fatalities. 294 signed on after a handful walked the course and thought the better of what mother nature had in store for them. The track at Glencoe is insane, the rockiest and steepest race course in the U.K for sure.


Haven Distribution's e-zee up went for a burton, so no hiding for the Devinci and Ellsworth racers. Previous youth National Champion Jamie Maller no longer has an awning on his van.


The big talk was the weather and we certainly had a range to suit everyone. Everything from hail, rain, gusting 60mph winds and blazing sunshine. The chairlift was stopped for a short while as even with our Technical Manager Kelvin Hoy onboard it still swayed enough to just start clipping the chairlift towers and he ain't no lightweight.


Big crashes from Bex Reilly and Simon Stuttard stopped play for a short while as they were wheel barrowed down the hill by the medics. Bex is out and about on crutches whilst Simon has a suspected damaged shoulder.



RRP Neoguards, handmade visors, marigold washing up gloves, carrier bags over socks (as styled by Josh Bryceland) we saw it all, none better than the traditional and personal favorite bin bag, body warmer..


The course itself runs straight from the left of the chairlift down the super rough fire road and into the original course which is where things get really interesting. Fraser Houston and his crew have done a stirling job and even with the weather and the number of riders the course has coped very well. Plenty of deep bermed corners with their very own waterfalls added to the scenic views before you dropped in at speed to death valley or pinball alley as some re-named.

Sheltered from the elements, well not really, you were onto the rock slabs, crossing streams (rivers) and avoiding the million jagged rocks that littered the track, then onto the super steep rock drops and ledges that had every rider on the anchors.


No complaints about the track, might not say how enjoyable it was, but it was a huge challenge for everyone, just not the weather. Good news is nobody fell off the chairlift, not even a bike and the chairlift ran all day except for five minutes. Check this out, news came in today that Fort William lift closed this morning. Imagine if that happens next week at the World Cup. Fancy pushing up that bad boy course?


Bad news is that practice closed early at 16:00 due to lack of Ambulances from the Ambulance service (We kept them pretty busy today) which didn't upset too many riders who had already been soaked through and were glad of the rest from the elements.


Sunday is race day, weather permitting! Latest news is we are expecting snow at the start and we have already secured the garage at the top as a warm up area for the racers. Remember we don't play tennis, this is mountain biking in Scotland and there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!

Race report will be up ASAP with loads of track pictures so stay tuned and keep it locked to Pinkbike.com! Videos will be online mid week
If you have any photos from racing this weekend, then please make sure you post them on the British Downhill Series section.

Stay Unclipped.

Si Paton.

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