Gawton - UK riding just got even better!
Over the last year I have been working on a new DH site in the South West of England with Rowan Sorrell and a select few others. It has had a lot of hype and could well be one of the best downhill locations in the UK. Its opening has been long anticipated and has remained fairly secret amongst locals until now..."England? The South West?" I hear you say, "there's no decent hills there for a downhill track!"
Well you're wrong, there are indeed a few hidden gems in the Devon valleys, one of which has been snapped up and some big things have been going on...
You may have heard of Rowan Sorrell, a World Class downhiller and track designer, responsible for DH tracks such as Cwm Carn, and trail centers such as Afan. I, and a couple of others were lucky enough to be part of the team designing and building 3 new tracks in the South West. After almost a year of very very hard work, lots of paper work, unforeseen problems and various other delays we are just about ready to open the location to the public.
![photo]()
![photo]()
Gawton, the name of the place, will feature 3 downhill tracks. One will be a super fun, fast, smooth and flowy track graded blue or red (intermediate). The 2 others will be black/double black - one will be super technical, the other will be flat out and knarly!
Each of these tracks have been built to a very high standard and will be regularly maintained and managed by a dedicated team.
![photo]()
![photo]()
It has had a lot of hype and its opening has been long anticipated. It has remained fairly secret amongst locals until now. It will be officially open in the new year (2009) and will hopefully feature a regular uplift service (currently being tested out to iron out any faults). We are trying to publicize the new site as much as possible as we honestly feel it could be one of the best riding locations in the country. The organizers of the national downhill races have already shown a great interest in using it as a future venue...
Keep your ears open for further news...
-AJ
Helmet cam of fast knarly track:
Footage of tech track:
Helmet cam of fun track:
Well you're wrong, there are indeed a few hidden gems in the Devon valleys, one of which has been snapped up and some big things have been going on...
You may have heard of Rowan Sorrell, a World Class downhiller and track designer, responsible for DH tracks such as Cwm Carn, and trail centers such as Afan. I, and a couple of others were lucky enough to be part of the team designing and building 3 new tracks in the South West. After almost a year of very very hard work, lots of paper work, unforeseen problems and various other delays we are just about ready to open the location to the public.
Gawton, the name of the place, will feature 3 downhill tracks. One will be a super fun, fast, smooth and flowy track graded blue or red (intermediate). The 2 others will be black/double black - one will be super technical, the other will be flat out and knarly!
Each of these tracks have been built to a very high standard and will be regularly maintained and managed by a dedicated team.
It has had a lot of hype and its opening has been long anticipated. It has remained fairly secret amongst locals until now. It will be officially open in the new year (2009) and will hopefully feature a regular uplift service (currently being tested out to iron out any faults). We are trying to publicize the new site as much as possible as we honestly feel it could be one of the best riding locations in the country. The organizers of the national downhill races have already shown a great interest in using it as a future venue...
Keep your ears open for further news...
-AJ
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Member since Oct 14, 2006
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It would be an amazing NPS track.
It's about time SW!!!
the site is only about a 20minute ride from the nearest train station, though its only a connecting service to the plymouth station.
to get a day-pass/membership, please visit www.woodlandriders.com
x
Good job guys, its good to see the UK scene getting better!
Just up the road, about an hour and a bit, we at TTFreeriders, close friends of the Tavi lot (Woodland riders), have also been busy, and have a huge array of new lines and courses in the pipeline, also with a possible addition to the a certain 'Points Series' circuit (Watch this space!), so the Riding / Courses available in Devon is about to get really interesting, and will certainly be worth a trip down, with Tavi being an amazing new venue, good works chaps (And chappesses!)
We will hopefully be getting a press release sorted soon with all the details. Meanwhile, see you in Gawton!!
The article says "New Year 09" so keep your eyes peeled after xmas!
many similarities to cwmcarn with plenty of line choice and lots of un-noticeable options/line choices and features,
will be worth a trip up.
Too bad im up North
how good do u hav 2 be 2 ride there?
and tracks in the UK are are more technical (or as you like to call them 'slow') so that you get a longer ride rather than one small blast...
maxxis minion DHF's and DHR's arent actually meant for front and rear... thats just a name. actually, the reason that dhf's are better in britain is because they are designed for mor rocky terrain than rooty terrain.. and in most cases in the uk we have lots of rocks... these tires are also best in america for the same reasons... so to realte back to what you were saying... U.S tracks are more similar to UK ones than you think... the US tracks are actually "faster" because they are straighter... it has nothing to with the building quality.. we face the same problems they face... they just have more room to do it!