Steel City DH 2014

This weekend saw the running of the Steel City DH ‘mini downhill’ race over in Grenoside Woods near Sheffield. Now in its fourth year this already-cult favourite event sold out* in the first couple of hours of entries opening back in March. It’s not hard to see why it’s such a popular race really.

A race track that’s fun and rewarding for all abilities, enthusiastic crowds, supportive fellow racers, newbies, oldies, big bikes, little bikes, normal bikes, stupid bikes. And last year’s ace sunny weather repeated its appearance too. Which is always nice, innit.

(*alright then, the Ripper and Women categories took a bit (not much mind) longer to sell out)

The key to a great event is the organisation behind it. If an event’s being run properly you don’t even notice any organisation. This is very much the case with the Steel City DH. There’s no jobsworths or Little Hitlers anywhere. Just people who know what they’re doing and how to do it (and how not to do it). They’re experienced riders and racers themselves and this comes across from the get-go.

Even when things do go awry – such as the racer who stacked into the final bomb hole and knocked themselves out – things were dealt with swiftly and professionally, with plenty of information being given out to the curious crowd as well as the queued-up racers back up the track. The unfortunate rider is fine by the way. Nothing broken. A slight case of concussion. She was back home later the same day.

Anyway, back to the fun stuff. The track is quintessentially about flow. There are little pockets of rocky roughness in the middle but mostly it’s about keeping your rhythm and flow through berms and over little doubles and humps. It’s a great piece of work by the local trail builders Biketrack.org and one that showcases the sort of swoopy stuff that abounds in Grenoside Woods.

For the most part the track follows one line which is doable by pretty much any mountain biker who’s been riding for a bit. The course designers throw in a few more challenging options at points but there’s always a B-line for those folk who don’t fancy them. The most typical bikes on view were mid-travel trail bikes, i.e. normal mountain bikes. The only not-everyday piece of equipment on view were the full-face helmets.

The two main challenging options are the Jolley Gap Jump about a third of the way down, and the bomb hole drop-in at the end. The Jolley Gap Jump is where the hecklers hang out. The heckling is not nasty though. It is without fail always good natured and supportive. There’s no booing of riders who take the B-line. The hecklers save their mock jeering for the riders that they know personally who stuff things up or have an unfortunate mechanical. There’s clearly a big student turnout at this race.

Although the racing field (200 racers) is on the modest side compared to some big events, the number of spectators is impressively huge. There’s no official word on how many turned out this year, but it felt like it was at least as busy as last year’s 1500 spectator tally. The course is great for spectators as it’s easy to get up and down the whole length of it whilst still being tape-close to the action.

The finishing area is where the ‘event village’ is. There’s a decent array of exhibitor stands – pretty much all of whom had staff members racing too. The spares and repairs service from Expert Bike Repair is friendly and fair-priced. The food is decent too and there’s a fresh coffee vendor. And there’s a bar. All in all, everything you need served up by a friendly face.

The Women’s category deserves highlighting. The Steel City DH has more female racers than any other UK downhill event (about 50 racers in total). This is something the organisers should be very proud of. And it’s something that other race organisers should take note of. One of these women was 70 years old too. A DH race with good turnouts of racers from both genders and with ages ranging from 11 up to 70, not too shabby at all.

The Steel City DH is arguably the showcase event for the ever-burgeoning ‘Sheffield scene’. The mountain bikers of this part of Yorkshire are building something very special and all too rare. A community of support and talent.

It’s a collective grass roots effort by and for mountain bikers. It’s a case study for other regions’ riders to take inspiration from. All counties should be putting on events like the Steel City DH.

The Podiums

Pro Men

1. Steve Peat, Santa Cruz Syndicate, Best run: 1:15.160

2. Eddie Masters, Bergamont Hayes World Team, Best run: 1:19.413

3. Freddie Oxley, Team On One Codeine, Best run: 1:19.878

Ripper men

1. James Elliott, Best run: 1:41.911

2. Joe Mumford, Team-CHR.co.uk, Best run: 1:45.601

3. Luke Mumford. Team-CHR.co.uk, Best run: 1:48.369

Juvenile men

1. Jordan Beighton, Kreek Racing Team, Best run: 1:35.112

2. Ryan Gledhill, Best run: 1:37.937

3. Sam Taylor, Biketrack.org, Best run: 1:41.861

Youth men

1. Oscar Monk, Rossendale RC, Best run: 1:32.231

2. Richard Brown, Best run: 1:32.914

3. Jake Monk, Rossendale RC, Best run: 1:33.493

Junior men

1. James Hurst, Best run: 1:25.086

2. Adam Dawson, Best run: 1:26.964

3. Marco Wood-Bonelli, Best run: 1:27.953

Senior men

1. Robert Campbell, Best run: 1:24.832

2. Sam Robson, Continental/DecadeEurope/MIJDownhillEvents, Best run: 1:24.833

3. Anthony Henry, Best run: 1:25.464

Master men

1. Adam Taylor, Best run: 1:26.342

2. Chris Pearson, Best run: 1:26.622

3. Steve Wager, Best run: 1:27.214

Veteran men

1. Scott Turtle, Best run: 1:27.546

2. Jason Dickinson, Best run: 1:29.230

3. Julian Duxbury, Best run: 1:31.689

Women

1. Emily Horridge, Best run: 1:32.866

2. Carrie Poole, Osprey/Thebiketree.co.uk, Best run: 1:35.687

3. Adele Peat, Best run: 1:37.660

Open women

1. Adela Carter, Hope Factory Racing, Best run: 1:48.637

2. Katy Sunter, Best run: 1:51.804

3. Hannah Saville, Norton Wheelers, Best run: 1:57.563

Full results on RootsAndRain

Weblinks

www.steelcitydh.com

www.facebook.com/SteelCitySeries

twitter.com/SteelCitySeries

Instagram tag: #steelcitydh

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