Eldest son (18) wants to do an MTB race. He’s relatively fit, hasn’t cycled for a while and isn’t the most technically able (overly brave).

What’s Black Park like as a venue? Steepness, hardness of landing and narrowness of trees etc

Entirely flat. Nothing remotely technical. Perfect intro to racing for someone not overly confident. Some of the singletrack is a bit narrow, but it’s not fast or anything, so not a specific issue.

Great – thanks! Watch out for an Orange Cotic single speed on sunday then! 😀

The only technical sections in the circuit this year are a couple of bombholes.

One is the usual one that is used in most of the races there and there’s a new section with a couple of bombholes in it.
I rode the course last week and it’s looking pretty good.

I’m having second thoughts – an injury for someone planning to become an infantry soldier would be really catastrophic. Already shaky judgement would be made worse by race day atmosphere.

Seriously, if he wants to race then Black Park is probably the easiest course in the country to do it on! Good fun, very fast, but not difficult. Do a practice lap and see what he thinks.

Why would he get injured? Does he travel in cars or walk down the road? Both more likely to get him injured!

I don’t think you’ll find a better venue for a first race. Even the big bomb hole had a chicken run last year, so you don’t need great technical skills to get round in one piece.