“Dear rider,

Many thanks for your pre-entry to Merida Brass Monkeys Round 1 which was due to take place this coming Sunday. We are massively disappointed to have to tell you that late yesterday we received notification that the event cannot now go ahead at Caesar’s Camp as the land is needed for other purposes. We are sure that you share our immense frustration and disappointment at this very late notice. Unfortunately, it does mean that we have no choice now but to postpone Round 1 until Sunday 18 December.

All Round 1 entries will therefore be moved on to that date which will become the new Round 1 and we will endeavour to add another date after the 8 January Round to complete the Series. If you are unable to make the new date of the event, you have until Friday 2 December to let us know, and we will either move your entry on to the 8 January event or give you a refund.

Thank you for your support,
MBM Team”

Bugger!

I can’t help but think that someone knew before last night that this was on the cards though….

Anyone have any info as to whose using the area? I imagine it is the Army….?

Real shame..

Arse 🙁

Communication breakdown or false truth?

It’s happened before. Presumably the Army can commandeer the land at any point.

Not completely unexpected after the issues they had with venues last year!

Not completely unexpected after the issues they had with venues last year!

I was half expecting this after last year…..may have to rethink which events I do if things are becoming unreliable..

Shame, I’ve always enjoyed BM…

event cannot now go ahead at Caesar’s Camp

Romanes eunt domas!

Hmmmm.

It is a real shame when this sort of thing happens and unfortunately the Gorrick chaps are a little bit at the hand of the MoD when it comes to using the land, and I don’t believe they are the only ones to have had surprises handed to them at such short notice.

I am quite sure that had the team known earlier they would have been looking for alternates or taking action to cancel as per last year when there was a short notice move to Checkendon after booked land got pulled late.

Lets face it, this can’t be easy for the Gorrick team either so personally I am going to hang in and show support for the team that has brought us so many good races over the years.

Thanks Shortcut, we do appreciate your support – stops us wanting to throw in the towel. As we said in the email which you kindly cut and pasted above, very happy to refund your entry Mr Lebowski…

Army can do what they like cos they got big guns and tanks and aren’t elected.

But why can’t they go invade some foreign country on Sunday!

To be honest this actually works in my favour as I am available on 18th but not this coming Sunday. I should however be very tired after 2 weeks of lots of riding as I shall be enjoying not very employed status for December.

Problem is I believe that the army can’t publicise when they’ll be using their land as they could end up being the target of a terrorist attack. If they tell Gorrick that they can’t use the land on a specefic date then by the powers of deduction the bad guys know the area will be crawling with squaddies that weekend.

It sucks. I had to pull out of a Gorrick last year because of the same thing. It must be so difficult to manage.

As I understand training areas are booked quite a long way in advance – happy to be proved wrong?

They are booked a long time in advance. As I understand it the booking may at any point be unbooked or re-prioritised leaving the venue un-available for MTB races despite them having been booked in advance.

Maybe you should try it some time.

Maybe you should try it some time.

Try what exactly??

Booking army land.

Well….

Fortunately in my 10 yrs as a STAB I had never had the hassle, but I am aware that it can be a ball ache from friends who now have that responsibility..

Don’t get me wrong I want to support Gorrick as I think they do an awesome job & it must be a labour of love sometimes, I would have liked a little more of an explanation though as to why they had to postpone the race…..rather than a somewhat vague “the land is needed for other purposes”….

It would be nice to have a little more detail – it wouldn’t have been hard nor giving away state secrets to state something like “the MOD had informed us that the area was no longer available due to operational requirements….” or something similar…

I , & probably others too, put quite a lot of time & effort into training for these races & when they are pulled at such short notice with very little explanation it’s a trifle annoying..

Problem is I believe that the army can’t publicise when they’ll be using their land as they could end up being the target of a terrorist attack.

I very much doubt that’s the reason. If it was, the MOD and DIO wouldn’t publish a monthly newsletter detailing upcoming activity and access on Salisbury Plain, but they do here.

The problem in the Aldershot area is quite a lot more complex and I really feel for the Gorrick team who have put so much into events over many years and are increasingly coming up against booking issues 🙁

It would be nice to have a little more detail – it wouldn’t have been hard nor giving away state secrets to state something like “the MOD had informed us that the area was no longer available due to operational requirements….” or something similar…

I think you can take it as read that this is the case – there is no way they would cancel unless forced to.

Knowing the Gorrick boys and a little of the amount of effort it takes to put these events on, if there was anything they could tell you i’m sure they would. But reading between the lines they probably got a call on Tuesday from the CO controlling the area military lands that said something along the lines of ‘sorry chaps, but your booking is cancelled, we need it for other things’

And that’s that. Other than confirming it was the MOD that cancelled it – which is a pretty safe assumption, let’s be honest, since it’s their land – they just don’t tell you that Captain Harris and his band of merry men fancied a weekend camping and it’s at your expense.

I was on Caesers Camp Sat & Sun morning and the only mechanised transport seen was a guy on a Trials bike. I read budgets were stretched at the MOD but Im not sure if Putin will be concerned if that’s the best we can muster… The infantry were obviously too well camouflaged to be visible to my untrained eyes.

I very much doubt that’s the reason. If it was, the MOD and DIO wouldn’t publish a monthly newsletter detailing upcoming activity and access on Salisbury Plain, but they do here.

offthebrakes – it’s always subject to change and have experienced this myself when riding. In fact at short notice they decided that Imber Church could only be open for the Remembrance Service and not for the whole weekend as previously agreed. Attendees had a military escort to and from the church.

Problem is I believe that the army can’t publicise when they’ll be using their land as they could end up being the target of a terrorist attack

That was the reason given by the Aldershot District Range Safety Officer when there was a meeting with local cyclists, so unlikely as it seems, given the SPTA newsletter etc, that is the MOD point of view.

kcshaple – Member
I was on Caesers Camp Sat & Sun morning and the only mechanised transport seen was a guy on a Trials bike. I read budgets were stretched at the MOD but Im not sure if Putin will be concerned if that’s the best we can muster… The infantry were obviously too well camouflaged to be visible to my untrained eyes.

It did occur to me that cancelling a ig event on thier land is also a massive advert that their will be personnel about. Probably an element of double bluffing going on.

That was the reason given by the Aldershot District Range Safety Officer when there was a meeting with local cyclists, so unlikely as it seems, given the SPTA newsletter etc, that is the MOD point of view.

This is also the reason provided to TAG when we met the SE Training Area commander face to face at Longmoor Camp and requested the ability to post which general areas might contain troops on a given day (to reduce user conflict on the land). They cited not wanting to return to the pre-good friday agreement days where every exercise needed a sentry with live ammo.

Whether this is a realistic appreciation of the threat posed by posting training schedules or not is something of a moot point – the relevant bit of DIO thinks it is.

It’s bollox – I was up there over the weekend and didn’t see anyone in uniform, but glad to see all the MTB trails have been torn up by one of the regular motorbike enduros which never seem to get cancelled. The sad fact is that land is now managed by a bunch of faceless, unaccountable idiots in the DIO who simply hide behind policy and rules. Gates have been padlocked for months in places so even legal pedestrian access is hampered and yet go up there at weekends and summer evenings and see the motorbikes ride about unhindered.