Hope PMBA Northern Enduro Champs 2016 - Video and Photo Report

It was said that more than once that we were being 'daft' to be putting on an event that clashed with the Fort Bill World Cup, especially when 25,000 gravity loving mountain bikers would be up there. If that wasn't enough of a risk then we were holding it at a brand new and as yet, unknown venue, which we were not even telling people where it was. All we could say was that it was a nice venue and all the trails were new...

In the end, a full field of 380 riders gambled on our description, and just a few days before the event we were sent the location and race map. We had built five stages and two main push up liaison sections with a small enough team to keep the venue top secret. Big credit to the volunteer dig teams. Three 4-man teams built a stage each from scratch, putting their own personalities into the dirt for the riders to enjoy, with the remaining 2 stages in the hands of the usual series trail-building team.

This did not mean there were fewer questions spinning around, be it from the riders, spectators, and organising team heads. Everything from, "Just how good and different could you make five stages on one hill?" and "Was a 7-mile lap really tough enough to be a 'championship' event? to Had we really built this? and of course, would the riders actually enjoy the steep and gnarly trails they always say they want? Enough questions, time for the answers!

What an absolute belter - it was hard work to bring a new venue to life but we smashed it! The race arena was an awesome spot with camping in a scenic estate and Stage 5 looked like a downhill race finish right into the heart with riders boosting down the 'KS Drop'. The series has had praise in the past for not taping out jumps, but this is the first time we have specifically gone and built a massive sender to tape into an enduro stage. Racers seemed happy that we stepping it up especially for this championship event. Yes, there was a lot of pushing up to the top of the hill rather than a normal fire road but great views and great trails made it all worthwhile.




We all know these things thrown together in the right mix are the ingredients for a good time however I'm making this point because these were all found in abundance in the grounds of the Graythwaite Estate.



Claire Bennet and Joe Flanagan give us an insight into the Stages..

Stage 1: SMK's Scorpion

It was like navigating a maze in an Egyptian pyramid a blur of changing corners angles and narrow tree sections kept you on your toes. If you pulled it off you were rewarded with a perfect feeling of flow, on the other hand if you clipped your hips of the first tight tree it seemed you were scraping bark all the way down. - Joe Flanagan.

It was tight! Trees everywhere, trying not to shoulder barge them I made my way down. Stopping at most of the caution arrow signs in practice to scope out the line. - Claire Bennet.


Stage 2: UDH's Gary the Polar Bear

It was a fast flurry through some magical woodland I kept expecting to be held up by fairies crossing the track. - Joe Flanagan.

This was where the flow was at. Loved it, super flowy with fast chutes in places, over cooked one corner and went straight on! That's the best thing about practice, to hopefully get the silly mistakes over and done with before racing! - Claire Bennet.



Stage 3 - Sublime Ride

Was the dogs f**king bollocks! - Joe Flanagan.

It started with awesome views across lake Windermere and the surrounding peaks, a stunning location. After a couple of fast bermed corners it was into the steep stuff: one corner, two corners, third corner and off! It was a little steep section with soooo much powdery dust! - Claire Bennet.



Stage 4: HDDN Gem

I would rather not talk about because it tried to remove my rear mech... - Joe Flanagan.

The other steep one... very enjoyable! Lots of tight turns, steep techy sections and a dusty fast off camber chute to finish. - Claire Bennet.



Stage 5: SMK's Sadists Surprise

That's all your getting, I've lost signal... - Joe Flanagan.

With a fast start it was onto some awkward pedally sections before gravity took over again until stopped by the impending short steep off the bike climb! Fast and flowy tracks continued to the finish arena, but which drop to tackle. Left or right? - Claire Bennet.







To round off the weekend...

"The weather tracks and people present created an incredibly chilled out friendly atmosphere I don't think you can find at many race series nowadays. This atmosphere, however, is not easy to produce and only made possible due to the hard work and collaboration of trail builders, land owners, riders and race organisers, the Hope PMBA Enduro Series is well and truly alive and kicking! So if your sat on your botty feeling miserable get on up and get yourself to the next PMBA festival of good times for some jolly good times!" - Joe Flanagan.

"Definitely the most amount of pushing my bike I've done on a race but that didn't matter. The standard of trail building was amazing. 5 really enjoyable, testing tracks, and a fab mix of flow, steep, technical, flat out fast, jumps and drops. Great work PMBA team and trail builders! What a great weekend riding bikes with mates In the sun and to top it off I managed to finish on the top step! The PMBA format of races is great because you can head out whenever you want, with who ever you want at a pace to suit you! A super relaxed way of racing!" - Claire Bennet.

Full results can be found here.

Winners








There are some spaces left for R5-7 Enter the Series here!

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