Some news from the folk at SPAMBiking, just back from their -6C recce of the course.
Earlier this year we were warned by the MOD that permission to run future cycling events on Salisbury Plain may not be granted due to the damage being caused to some of the wooded areas on the edge of the Army training area. It seems, however that, for now, we are able to continue as permission to run the Winter Challenge on 3rd January 2010 has just been confirmed.
Some internet forums are questioning the event’s existance in the 2010 MTB Calendar but we are proud to confirm IT WILL RUN and that SPAMBikng will once again kick off the new Mountain Biking Year in Wiltshire!
The Challenge will follow a similar format to previous years offering a 50km course for experienced riders (we believe this distance is long enough considering the possible adverse weather conditions), a 35km ride for leisure riders wanting a challenge and a 25km route for less experienced or younger riders.
All routes will be based around the best all-weather trails the Plain can offer with a few extra climbs and more technical descents thrown in on the longer courses.
Anyone is welcome to take part and any profit made from the event is donated to local charities such as the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Hope for Heroes (the charity supporting injured service men and women).
Youngsters are also welcome to take part, but we ask that younger riders (from 8 years) are accompanied by an adult at all times and have some experience of off-road riding. Older experienced teens may ride without an adult with consent of a parent.
The routes are well marshalled and the event offers full first aid cover on standby.
Trade Stands from Bertie Maffoons in Marlborough and Bikes and Boards in Devizes will be in attendance and the event is also supported by Mule Bar.
On site catering offering hot and cold drinks and food will be on site from 8am, and volunteers from Dorothy House (local hospice) will be offering tea and cake at the finish line with proceeds supporting their cause.
Registration opens at 8am with rides starting from 10 am (mass starts 10 minutes apart for each category).
Timelaps will be professionally recording rider’s times.
Online entry open now at www.spambiking.co.uk
Rides start from 10am on 3rd January (mass starts for each distance category).
Registration is open from 8am – 9.30am for signing on and entries on the day.
Comments (11)
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Its lovely up on The Plain ATM. The cross roads are open ’til Jan 6th too which makes for a nice change.
It was a great day, need to bring better gloves though!
Quote: Earlier this year we were warned by the MOD that permission to run future cycling events on Salisbury Plain may not be granted due to the damage being caused to some of the wooded areas on the edge of the Army training area
Don’t they drive tanks over the area and fire high explosive shells regularly?
Not in the wooded areas! Otherwise the race might be a bit more dangerous.
despite the lovely picture of singletrack, the event won’t be going through the woods used for Set2Rise and The Blast as these would be badly damaged by 1000 riders and we need to ensure they remain suitable for 2010, where we very much hope to continue with the support of the MOD and Landmarc and hold further events. hope that doesn’t put anyone off but the course is still excellent, it gets you out after xmas and it’s all in a very good cause
There will be a mix of trails, depending on conditions. As Mark rightly says, 1,000 riders in wet conditions would trash the singletrack – and it’s not fun anyway when it’s like that. If it’s baltic, like it was when I took the photos, however, there’s scope for a bit of singletrack because it’s frozen solid!
looking forward to it, its been a few years since i rode the course