Peaty's Steel City DH 2014 - Saturday 17th May

This weekend the UK's biggest little race will take place in Steve Peats back yard, Greno Woods, Sheffield. Now in its fourth year, this annual event, Peaty’s Steel City DH, is grassroots racing at its finest. Staged to raise money for the woods they take place in, the community and family nature of the race make it unique in the racing calendar. Its popularity is astounding; the majority of the near 300 entries sold out in 9 minutes this year and there are over 50 women racing making it the largest female field in any downhill race. Riders come from all over the country to take part in the only mini DH in the area. Last year there was an estimated 2000 people in the woods watching and taking part in the race, enjoying everything on offer in the finish arena and making huge amounts of noise trackside.



This year’s race is set to be even bigger and better than ever with hopes to raise even more money for the creation and maintenance of mountain bike trails in the woods. Everything is now set for the big day and riders and spectators will both be treated to a great day in the woods. Last year’s race fell on Star Wars day, May the 4th, so the woods were filled with fast moving Storm Troopers, a homemade R2D2 and a very hot Wookie Marshal. In keeping with the imminent release of Peatys Biopic, Won’t Back down, the fancy dress theme is Sheffield Legends. We’re expecting to see plenty of Peat-impersonations but Sheffield history is rich with characters and the stakes are high; Cotic are again giving away one of their Bfe frames to best dressed legend in the woods.




Thanks to our generous sponsors there are lots of other ways to win this year. We have a photo and video contest run by Harrison Cameras who will award a Sony action camera or a Canon EOS Digital Camera to the best entries. Totally Sports Insurance will be giving away £200 to the biggest crowd pleaser over the ‘Jolley gap jump’. For the ‘best’ crash of the day Aline mountain bike coaching will be giving away a full day’s tuition to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Finally a weekend in a Mini Countryman is at stake for the rider with the fastest time of the day by Sytner Sheffield. All that and we haven’t even mentioned the podium prizes yet. They will all be detailed in the next pre-race post.

However, this year Sheffield’s Avanti conveyors have upped the cash Pro Purse to £500. We’d love to see a few more pro’s turn up and give Steve a run for his money on his home track. Come on lads, what are you up to next weekend? Surely 500 quid and a weekend ragging a mini around is enough to tempt you in to the woods? Drop us a line at steelcityseries@gmail.com and we’ll find you a place.

We also have some amazing donations to auction off. The kind folks at Santa Cruz UK and On-One have both given very generously to the race this year, allowing us to auction of a frame and a bike to raise money for the race fund.

Both are up for sale over on ebay. We are accepting your best offers and they will be sold to the highest bidder! Please contact us with any questions at nick@thisisheffield.co.uk

Santa Cruz UK have given us the frame of the moment, The Bronson, with a Fox float CTD shock.


Click here for the Santa Cruz ebay auction

On-One have given us a choice of three complete bikes to choose from, a 45650B, an Inbred 29 or a 456 Evo 2. You just need to choose which wheel size you prefer.


Click here for the on-one ebay auction

In both cases you can choose whatever size and colour frame you prefer. When you win the auction, we will put you in touch with Santa Cruz UK or On-One and they will fulfil the order. You are essentially just buying direct from them but the money is going to a very good cause. So please bid generously!


The first Steel City DH was held back in 2011. Despite Sheffield’s mountain bike heritage there hadn’t been an official race in the area for over 10 years. Steve has always tried to give as much back to the sport he loves as possible and sharing the joy of racing with as many people as he can was one obvious way to accomplish it. In a way, the stars aligned that year. The Wildlife trust were in the process of trying to buy back Greno woods from the land owners in order to turn it back in to a more natural habitat. The cost was a million pounds and they were a long way short of the mark. Thankfully one of the head honchos is a keen mountain biker and when the plan was presented, he jumped at the idea. The other star in alignment was Freecaster who were bang in the middle of bringing live DH racing back to the masses. Will Ockleton was living in Sheffield at the time and he arranged for non other than Alex Rankin to come and film the whole event which would then be broadcast on Freecaster. To add to the ambience Will brought in Rob Warner to commentate and present making it a real mix of Old School and World Cup feel. That first year the race was put together in about 6 weeks. The response was phenomenal and, despite the atrocious conditions, the day was a complete success.


On the back of the race the money raised was put back in to the woods. They paid for local trail builders BikeTrack to come in and build a dedicated race track away from the delicate heath land habitat the Wildlife trust wised to protect. It’s this track we have raced on for the past two years as it has been steadily improved year on year. There is a now a series of dedicated, sustainable and way marked trails in Greno with even more on the way. The event itself has grown in size and popularity too. Each year we have had more exhibitors and stands around the infamous bomb-hole drop finish. It’s a natural amphitheatre which hosts the thousands of spectators who come to watch on the day. The atmosphere is electric with lots of noise and good natured heckling to all that send the drop. There is plenty to see, do and buy from local ale and barbecued pork to bike manufactures and shops.

This year we have another first. Adele Croxon-Peat, Mrs Peaty, is coming out of retirement to race. She hasn’t raced bikes competitively since 2006 and we’re so stoked she’s decided to come and show Steve how it’s done. Perhaps the promise of £500 for the win swayed her, but more likely she wants to show her boys, Jake and George (and Steve!) just how rapid she is racing. You can guarantee they will be the loudest cheers on the day.

There will be a further update about the race during the week but all the information about the race and its location can be found over on the website.
www.steelcitydh.com
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