Northerndownhill 2011 | Kidland

Round two of the Northerndownhill series took place this weekend at Kidland, less than a mile from the Alwinton track used for round one. Here's what happened:


Kidland in many ways is similar to Alwinton; steep, technical and a hefty challenge to string a perfect run together on. It’s a more mature track, still natural but flowing better and faster as a result of work to build corners up on the super steep sections and so easier to push that little bit harder on. But don’t think easier to push on means easy, it just means that you’re going faster when you make a mistake. Located within miles of the Otterburn military camp (site of the Top Gear Robin Reliant rocket launch a few years ago), riding on Saturday was to a backdrop of live heavy artillery shells going off in the distance for most of the day.


The track currently sits around the two minute mark for the average rider, the start line leading into a mellow few corners before the trees begin and the gradient begins to point more determinedly downwards. Speed increases but several niggly tree gaps soon send those running wider bars to look for the nearest hacksaw. A knife edge of rocks and roots was made awkward by being quite flat and easy to kick slack and low bikes off line, but from there onwards the track is steep and virtually follows the fall line down the hill, switchbacks here doing the bare minimum to sweep you round trees, built up corners cutting up nicely and becoming ever looser as practice progressed.


Catch netting is a definite necessity on several of the steep and tight turns, very welcome to those who had call to use it over the weekend. The trail mellows from here gradually, the speed increasing over blind crests, high lines through tight gaps and loose rocky turns that encourage drifting through them. The last few corners were superb and would make an excellent spectator point if only there were the numbers; out the last rocky turn, drop onto the grippy low line, gap over the roots, hopefully land in time to avoid the tree to your right and then flick immediately the other way to drop down the banking for the finish. Make no mistake; this venue has earned a reputation among those who raced it the first time for being one of the toughest courses they’d ridden. And although now a little more developed it still packs a right punch and is both rewarding and fun to ride – to the point that there are a good number of riders who would place it right up there amongst the best in the country. It’s just a shame that more riders haven’t realised how good it is.


Weather in the UK always plays a significant part in a race weekend and here was no exception, following very much in the theme of Alwinton. Blue skies and dry trails for Saturday practice gave way to high winds and rain just in time to thwart attempts for some to pitch tents for the night. That rain did eventually make its way through the tree cover to wet the roots, keeping the open sections greasy and leaving riders to tentatively test the grip levels on their first run back down the hill on Sunday morning.


With just under one hundred riders and three quick to turn around Transits and trailers providing uplift there is a lot of practice available, both on Saturday and then again on Sunday morning as racing didn’t start until 1pm, yet time still for two race runs. Juveniles were the first to make their runs down the hill, Bradley Swinbank taking third with a 2:26 in his second run, a twenty second improvement over his first highlighting problems there. Andrew Dorritt showed consistency to post two times just tenths apart, his second place secured by 2:19 while James Purvis, another to suffer misfortune on his first run secured the win with a 2:09.


In Youth Daniel Franklin took third with a 2:13. Rory McRitchie was second with a 2:03 having pushed Anthony Preston hard all the way but unable to cover off the last half second deficit for the win, Anthony just slipping into 2:02. Into Juniors and it was James Joyce-Gibbons who took third with a 2:01 just four tenths down on second placed Matt Downes, also on a 2:01. Taking the win however was Matty Leggett with an eight second margin and a time of 1:52.


Only two women raced here, Gina Robertson taking second spot with two consistent runs while Esther Sands took the win with a 3:18 having used her second run to improve on the time set in her first significantly. Michael Strangeways was third placed in Veterans with a 2:13 having been unable to improve on his first run time. Pete Hoggan was one of the few Scots to have made the trip down and second place was his reward on a 2:08, just under two tenths down on winner Shaun Kelly. In Masters Phil Grimes took third having scraped under the two minute barrier by just one tenth. After damaging his shoulder on the Alwinton track Mark Weightman pulled out second here with a 1:54, just six tenths back on the winning 1:54 of Jayson Cavill.


In Senior the times were very close with under 1.5s separating first and third. Gary Neale took third spot on the podium with a 1:52.8, with Robert Tait second on a 1:52.2. Taking the win was Craig Shane with a 2:15 and a six tenths margin over second. In Experts Peter Walton rode hard and well for third, claiming the spot with a 1:49 but just four hundredths back on second placed Steven Turnbull. The win went to Liam Little who posted the fastest first run time of the entire field but still managed to shave another half second off in his second run for a 1:45.


Moving onto Elite and it was the South African Bradley Illingworth who only moved to the UK a few weeks ago who took third having confessed to not having much experience of mud or wet tree roots, two things that this track had in abundance after the rain of Saturday night. Pete Williams took the bull by the horns and stormed the track to take the win and fastest time of the day with a 1:43.


The Northern series may lack the glitz and glamour of some races but they’re well run and very relaxed. The venue at Alwinton and Kidland may not be ideal in some peoples thanks to a lack of parking space but it’s an amazing area and one which is fantastic to be allowed to race in. The uplift is quick and efficient, there’s barely a push in sight and what’s more is there is a further thirty seconds of track available above should there be enough marshals to cover it although unfortunately this isn’t presently the case. Phil and Carl are two very capable track builders, creating challenging trails that are fun and flowing to ride, traits unfortunately not always in evidence on some tracks.


It’s surprising that these events haven’t attracted more riders, Scots in particular given how much of a challenge the SDA events are to enter. The NDH rounds are only just over the border, have excellent tracks and have a good atmosphere too in much the way of the SDA’s. The next rounds of the Northern series are now open for entries so if you fancy racing these then get over to www.northerndownhill.co.uk

Full results are available here, with pictures for this report kindly provided by Tom Towers.