New UK Downhill venue | Nant Gwrtheyrn

Source: Simply Downhill

Simply Downhill are proud to present a brand new race venue in North Wales, Nant Gwrtheyrn. Simply Downhill is made up of Tom Fryer and Simon Ward who have teamed up after Simon's successful Wentwood Trophy race last year. Simply Downhill discovered Nant Gwrtheyrn after speaking to a local rider who had cut the original line into the mountain side.

Read on for more:After a quick visit it became clear the massive potential the venue had to be an awesome track and a great race venue. With the original builders blessing we approached the management team at the centre who were really excited about the idea and after a few volunteer digging sessions Simply Downhill has a race planned at Nant Gwrtheyrn on one of the best tracks in the UK.


The track is the most important part of any race event and this one definitely will not disappoint. In the last week we have been lucky enough to have had a visit from Aaron Gwin and Joey Schusler part of the Yeti Fox Racing Team. The Yeti riders were staying in North Wales before heading up up to the Fort William round of the World Cup and were looking for somewhere to ride. Aaron compared the course to the Andorra world cup course, only steeper. The picture below shows Aaron hitting the one of the rock gardens on the Nant Gwrtheyrn course.


The uplift is on a private tarmac road and drops riders above the course for a short ride down to the start. The top section of the course is classic North Wales terrain. It is wooded and is steep and rocky, as you drop down the hill more and more line choice becomes apparent. This part of the course includes a lot of rock sections and a mixture of different turns. Shortly after reaching the main rock garden, known as snooker balls, the track bridges a steam and meets a disused fire road. The loose gravel road has a tight “S” bend in it which means you can imagine yourself as Sam Hill as you get your drift on. A short sprint then and you hit the “trail centre” part of the course. This has recently been surfaced and you can pump and jump your way along here at high speed before hitting the run up for the two step-down options.


One of these step downs is the racers choice and the other is the fun, launch into the air option. Landing the step-down sets you up for a new table top of which the landing fires you onto a pump bump and then into the final section of the track. The final section is a flat out open section which then drops down to jump over to walls. Two berms and a drop later and your crossing the finish line just metres from the uplift pick up point.


The venue has a lot going for it as well as the quality of the track and the uplift. Nant Gwrtheyrn was an abandoned quarrying village that has now been revamped into the Welsh Language Centre. The centre offers residential courses during the week and because of this has some great accommodation facilities that riders can make use of on the race weekend. The centre is also has a large bar and cafe area which will be open the weekend of the race with a big party planned for the Saturday night. A decent car park and a camping field this venue really does have everything going for it.


If you want to come and check out this exciting new venue Simply Downhill have been running regular, good value uplift days which run on a taped course and includes a bacon bap and hot drink in the price. The next one is on the Saturday 19th June. The first race weekend is 14th and 15th of August. There is racing both days just like it used to be. There is British Cycling ranking points available both days as well as prizes from Howies and Purple Moose Brewery. If you think your organisation would like to get involved in supporting this event please get in touch. For more details and to get booked on visit:

www.simplydownhill.co.uk

Simply Downhill would like to take this opportunity to thank the guys who work at Nant Gwrtheyrn for their support and believing in our vision from the start. If this is a success they will be very keen to have future events here. At the moment the course is only able to be ridden during organised uplift and race events. Please respect this and keep the Nant Gwrtheyrn track a great venue.

Pictures by Caradog Chapman, Huw Parry & Rhian Evans.