No Fuss Events Benromach Deg Yn Llandegla.

We love No Fuss Events and were sad not to be able to make it to Llandegla this weekend for their first foray south of the border. Thankfully roving reporter RichPips was there to cover it for us…

10 Around Llandegla – what, no haggis?

No Fuss Events have been organising mountain bike events for some six years now in their native Scotland. I’ve done a couple in the past; they’re well organised days out which have a particularly friendly feel. A bit like something you and your mates put together, but with a professional finish. Apparently some bird called Capercaillie jilted them in Scotland for the last of their usual ‘10 hour’ venues this year and so the long-standing temptation for the No Fuss team to travel south had an opportunity. Llandegla was to have its first big XC race.

An inaugural field of some 250 riders set off at 9.30am in clement weather, with the usual mix of teams and solos. A combination of the red and black routes, and some special just-for-the-day, off-piste trails designed by Spook Monroe and Ben Savage, resulted in a varied route with great riding. From the visitor centre and One Planet Adventure, the route followed the blue/red loop up to just past the Offa’s Dyke path, which will instil some deja vu if you’ve ridden at Llandegla before.

The next section was new, and very different in character: a tight and slippy line through the trees and then an ace steep descent through the dark forest. Once out of the darkness, the route climbed a fire road before heading down towards the black section of the trail. Fun to ride at a leisurely pace, but at race speed it became something that required skill and concentration.

As the riders crossed the finish line with their 10 hours up, each was given a mini bottle of whisky courtesy of Benromach. A nice touch that made me wish I’d raced. Rider consensus was that the course was hard, not in a technical way, but in a rough bumpy way. This was not the place to be riding without at least some suspension up front.

The course claimed a few scalps: Ragley/JMC rider TwinklyDave [we hope his mother didn’t call him that] who was riding in 2nd place in the solos came a cropper with his unfeasibly wide bars in the woods and now sports a rather large bruise on one shoulder. LukeB [right, we know his mother didn’t call him that…] who regularly competes in No Fuss events said “It’s been great they’ve put an event here at Llandegla. It does seem a little odd to be sat around at a No Fuss event without being ravaged by midges though!” and the last word came from Amy Baron-Hall, the ladies solo winner, who said at the end “The best endurance course I’ve ridden”.

Feel like you missed out? Be there next year…

RichPips’ pics of the event can be found on his Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/no_fuss_events/sets/72157627368407217/