Wet in Welsh Wales: Borderline Events Uk DH Round1, Caersws.

There is nothing quite like a dry dusty downhill race, this weekend saw nothing like that.
The weekend In between The first British National and the First round of the UCI World Cup saw Round 1 of the 2014 Borderline Events UK DH series at Caersws, located just inside the welsh border an hour west of Shrewsbury. There was plenty of traditional dirty, gritty, grassroots racing to be had.
Saturday Practice saw the rain sweeping in and out of the valley all day long providing very changeable and challenging track conditions, by the time a drying line would develop the next front would roll in and drench it twice as fast as it could dry.
Spikes, definitely the choice of the day if you could hold your line over the roots and stumps!
That is sometimes easier said than done though.
While the woods where almost consistently thick sticky mud the changing conditions were certainly causing issues for riders higher up the track too.
Slick, steep and littered with tree stumps. going fast at the top is not for the faint hearted.
Propain rider David Addison's improvised mud guard kept his goggles clear, until it clogged and caused an OTB

Limitless clothing Rider Sam Faux takes the high line into the switchbacks.

Heavy rain overnight and into the morning quashed any hopes of staying dry for race runs,
You've heard of Marshall Chaos. This is Marshall Placid

This is Uk Downhill wet and slippy is our bread and butter
Reece Langhorn On his way to the fastest time of the day and the win in the Elite category

Owain James finding some pace up top

The rain was not dampening any spirits on track
Wideopen's Joe Parfett talking lines in practice.

By second race runs the bottom of the woods was muddier and more rutted than ever.
The top of the wood stayed surprisingly clear and fast all weekend
Burgtec looks fast in any weather

Alex Bennet was on a flyer, front wheel enduro turns and all but the woods got the better of him 3 turns from the finish. Over 20 seconds was lost in this off track scramble.

After crossing the fire road for the final time the track dropped into the finish field and only a flat grassy section stand between the riders and the line.
David Smith Hammering out of the last burm


So after two days riding and Racing 8 riders come out on top of the 150 strong field.
Clockwise From the top left (Center the man behind the magic Mike Marsden)

Juvenile:
1. Alec Geyer 2:26.156
2. Riley Scott 2:29.736
3. Jake Gaskell 2:33.298

Youth:
1. Elliot Heap 2:07.058
2. Will Hart 2:10.993
3. Joe Parffet 2:11.171

Junior:
1. Lewis Boyce 2:00.392
2. Edward Belk 2:11.440
3. Euan Bugler 2:12.772

Women:
Monet Adams 2:36.063
Becci Skelton 2:57.523
Cath Tilford 3:16.005

Veteran:
John Cobb 2:08.746
Niall Ingram 2:20.634
Austin Williams 2:23.203

Master:
Daniel Haines 2:04.182
Neil White 2:04.641
Seb Frost 2:07.661

Senior:
Marc Cunningham 2:04.412
Mat Moseley 2:06.057
Danny Bradford 2:07.159

Expert:
Tom Cartigny 2:04.573
Thomas Owens 2:04.780
Richard Acott 2:06.145

Elite:
Reece Langhorn 1:59.342 (FTD)
Grant Boyce 1:59.723
George Belk 1:59. 937

With only point six of a second separating the top three Elite riders its going to be an interesting season ahead, All thats left to do is wash down the bikes and to say see you all at the next round in Hamsterley - 25th May 2014 for some more close racing and hopefully some brighter weather!


For more information on the series check out Boarderline Events
and to see more from us go to Paused Motion Photography