Peaty's Steel City DH 2014 - Sheffield

In my experience, the best ideas seem to start over a beer. Peaty’s Steel City Downhill was no exception. Dreamt up after a couple of pints, some rambling conversations and numerous disparate ideas, the solution to plug Sheffield’s dearth of mountain bike races fell in to place like tetris.

That was three years ago and in the intervening time the race has grown better and more organised each time. Steve Peat heads up the organising team bringing his weight and influence to enable such a charity event to happen so successfully. The behind the scenes graft is done by Steve Hardcastle, Henry Norman and myself, Nick Hamilton. On the eve of this year’s race we are poised to set the woods up for another memorable event.


Peaty is arguably the biggest name in mountain biking. He’s been around longer than most and certainly been at the top of the sport for longer than anyone else. But it’s not just his successes that have brought him such popularity; his failures have been equally as enchanting for us, his multitude of fans. It goes even beyond that though, Steve loves racing mountain bikes. It has been his life and he doesn’t look like backing down anytime soon. It’s this love of the sport that drives him to give back to it, to chat to fans, to offer advice to riders, to have photos taken or to sign a pair of... gloves. This is why his Steel City DH is such as success. He wants it to be the best race it possibly can be so that everyone there, racing or cheering, can enjoy it just as much as he does. That goes for the rest of the team too. We and everyone else ‘working’ at the race are doing it for free. No one is getting paid, all the money is going in to one big pot with one purpose, to make it the best race possible and to make Greno Woods, the site of the race, the best place to ride bikes. This is why the Steel City DH is such a unique event and why it should be enjoyed by everyone at some point. It’s why the majority of entries sold out in 9 minutes, and why I’m really excited for the weekend.


The success of the race has other benefits too. It means that sponsors are very keen to be involved and to give away some amazing prizes. This is really important to us as it means we can reward the riders that do well with great treasure but also give to those that just come along and enjoy the race for the spectacle it has become. We’re always trying to attract more pros to the race; we really want to see Steve get beaten. He’s won every year so far and it’s been on a different wheel size each time. It will be interesting to see what he turns up on this year. To attract the pros a local company, Avanti Conveyors, stumps up a big wad of cash. 500 quid this year. So far, we have Ratboy, Sam Dale and Eddy Masters rocking up to try to take the kings crown. With Ratty and Sambo’s run of results at world cups recently I reckon Steve is going to be getting a bit worried. However, I do wonder if either of them would actually dare to beat the big man on his home track.


For the rest of our podium winners we have a selection of great prizes from lots of local, national and international companies. One of the initial intentions of the race was to make it a family affair, but to get everyone racing. We are as grass roots as it comes. That’s why we have the Wide Open DH Rippers category for 10 to 12 year olds. Watching them tear the track up cheered on by mum and dad is just amazing. Moving up the age ranges we have the Lizard Skins Juveniles, Uber Bike Components Youths and Kenny Juniors. These are always hotly contested categories; last year a Youth, James Hurst, finished just outside the overall top 20 and a Junior, Liam McDermott, inside the top 30. Not bad out of over 200 riders.


As is usual for us the older categories sold out that fastest this year. Unbelievably, it took less than 10 minutes for the 140 Polaris Seniors, Bike Garage Masters and Hook It Vets to sell out. Each year we eclipse our previous record for selling out but that should last a while. This lot are getting some amazing prizes too, a £300 axial bike pod, Complete bike servicing and Sensus, Klen Laundry and The Riot Club Swag.


We’re very proud to say that we have two women’s categories and a total of 52 ladies racing. This is far more than any other downhill race in the country. Even Mrs Peaty, Adele Croxon-Peat, is racing! But will she win the Flare Clothing company garms? Could it be a double Peat podium? All will be revealed on Saturday.

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. The Bronson has already gone to the highest bidder, netting £1400 for the raise fund.

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 auction.



Click here for the on-one ebay auction


In the woods there are plenty of other ways to win. We have a photo and video contest, a fancy dress competition to win a Cotic BFe frame, a £200 cash prize for the best crowd pleaser and another for the Aline Coaching Best Crash. We also have a raffle with a week’s Trail Addiction Holiday, a Cotic BFe frame, Hook It swag and much more all for only £1. Every volunteer marshal is also bestowed a thank you goodie back from 18 bikes.


There are 20 exhibitors in the finish bomb hole selling their wares and edible delights. This keeps the hordes of spectators well fed and watered to keep them entertained throughout the day. Racing begins at 11:30 and should be all done by 5.

We hope to see you in the woods. If we don’t, watch out on Tuesday for a full race report. Pinkbike are sending their camera wielding wonders to capture all the action.

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