Northern Downhill Round 1 Kidland Forest - England

A report of the event through the eyes of the organizers:

Ok so round 1 of my first ever event organization of any kind on a brand new track! Ok I was frightened a lot could go wrong!

Kidland is as remote as British tracks come. Most riders questioned how did you find this place!!?? The answer being that Alex MacLennan of the Forestry Commission pointed us in this direction and we thank him for that.The track start was from my dads scaffold into the woods on a gentle slope which is both pumpy and pedally. As the weekend went on root after root emerged making this once flowing section become technically very difficult, one slip on this slight gradient would lose all momentum losing you lots of time. Turn after turn many found this section hard to remember. By the time you hit the fire road your muscles and lungs were already aching from this short section but there was no rest to come, you were now flat out ready to bosh through even more ploughed planting furrows which felt like and resembled a whoop section of a moto x track including pedal deep ruts.


Back into the trees with the gradient increasing the speeds rose on this classic singletrack section with roots and trees ready to grab at shoulders, knees and wheels. This section should be easy but line choice was crucial to maintain speed. As the light gets better you enter the dead zone, a loamy single track section littered with stumps and rocks. It’s essential to maintain your flow here as the gradient flattens into the approach to “Littletown”. Littletown is where the track begins to steepen and the light is good. The track now heads straight down the fall line with brick sized rocks littering the route.



Broken wall is the next section and is a straight line of a broken wall with bus stops on it to prevent any rest for those now suffering arm pump. This section was the calm before the storm as from the last bus stop the track turns 90 degrease to head straight down the hill into near darkness. Some corners are impossible to get without skimming your shoulders or hips off the trees and their trunks are polished as proof of this. The track is so steep here it is impossible to describe you’re a passenger on the bike.


Root after root was exposed in the steepest sections some becoming drop offs in sections which where steep enough and didn’t need to be anymore technical! Appropriately numbered marshal point 13 was the busiest on the hill. Spectators loved this spot. Once past this the track became steeper again with the forestry commissioning the need for safety netting to prevent the less skilled from base jumping with their bike! There was a multiple lines through the next section straight and direct or roosting around the edge of the netting in the hope of carrying some extra speed and avoiding the crash pads (provided by Selective Covers).The next section starts to flatten off spewing you through off camber root sections into loose gravel sliding corners in the run up to V tree.. This is very tight and basically has to be attacked with confidence as there must only be mm between your pedals and bars and the trees limbs. Most managed but some struggled.


From the V tree the gradient shallows again with a tight but fast right hander and a straight (is this the only straight!?) Followed by a speedway esque left hander into the jump onto the roots of the biggest tree in the forest! If done right you would land and be spat out onto the finish shoot at warp speed if you got it wrong you will be eating safety netting. Northumberland National Park banner took most of the abuse here. The next right hander is 180 degrees back on itself and very steep with a berm to catch you at the bottom before spitting you across to the finish.

Most agreed that the track was tough and physical with very little respite. Sarah Brunswick the only female on the course did herself proud taking on the challenge some men passed on!


We had a couple of problems with the radios which led to timing problems over the weekend. For this we apologize profusely and have done all we can to recover the lost data. To anyone this affected we are sorry. We have already taken steps to improve our communication so that this problem can not happen again.

Overall I think we did as good a job as we could have expected for our first ever attempt on a brand new track and as brand new event organizers.


During the clear up on the Monday we were very happy that there was very little in the way of litter knocking about and what there was I would like to think it may have been blown there from the big gusts we had on the Saturday night We hope this keeps us on good terms with the land owners for future events. Thank you all for making an effort with keeping things clean and tidy


Results.

Youth
1st. Lewis Buchanan Empire Cycles 2.27.92
2nd. Mark Scott All Terrain Cycles 2.30.93
3rd. David Milion 4mountains 2.52.98

Junior
1st. Ben Moorhouse Tickettoridebc.com/descentgear.com 2.34.99
2nd. Adam Burnside Ride Central Fox 2.35.47
3rd. Steven Turnbull Team CHR 2.42.95

Ladies
1st. Sarah Brunswick Manx mountain bike club 4.10.48

Senior
1st.Tom Skillicorn 2.37.07
2nd.Nick Turner The Development/Orange 2.38.60
3rd.Kurtis Knowles 2.39.48

Master
1st.Andrew Buddin Descent Hamsterley 2.38.60
2nd. Mark Weightman 2.42.36
3rd. Zac Hubery Descent Hamsterley 2.46.72

Veteran
1st. Stevie Boyd 2.55.75
2nd. Stephen Deas I-cycles 2.59.47
3rd Mark White. Progression Maxxis 3.17.91

Expert
1st. Ben Hall Perth City Cycles 2.26.24
2nd. Ross Anderson MSC bikes uk 2.29.98
3rd. Liam Little Keswick Mtb/2stage bikes 2.30.36

Elite
1st. Peter Williams MSC 2.24.45
2nd Phil Ashbridge. Mountain High Cycles 2.28.99

We could not have brought to you the 2009 Northerndownhill race series without help from our Sponsors: www.MX1.co.uk, Northumberland National Park, Ride Central, Hope, Fox Europe, Singletrack and Rockstar energy drink.

Big thanks to the marshals over the weekend especially the family and friends who chipped in!

Photos courtesy of olivercoatsphotography.co.uk

Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team
British Cycling
Russell and Tracy from Northumberland National Park
Alex Jonathan and Laura from the Forestry Commission
Local land owners Alan Hunter and John Snaith.

Local business, Blakey Haulage, Buses by IDM travel, Clennell Hall Hotel, Kidlandlee Holiday Cottages, and last but not least The Rose and Thistle Alwinton.


Entries for the remaining races will be open Tuesday 5th May

• 2-3rd May Hamsterley Forest, County Durham
• 4-5th July Carlton Bank
• 8-9th August Scratchmere Scar, Cumbria
• 10-11th October Kidland, Rothbury

Want more info?
info@northerndownhill.co.uk

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