This weekend, almost 500 riders took to the trails surrounding Innerleithen for the last of the TweedLove Triple Crown enduro races for 2017. Tweedlove HQ has just sent over this report from the event:
The sell-out race saw riders fighting for not only the coveted title of Scottish Enduro Champion, but also the overall TweedLove Triple Crown Enduro Series win. This is awarded to the riders with the best results for all three Tweedlove enduro events during the year – March’s Vallelujah, June’s Tweedlove International and this weekend’s King and Queen of the Hill.
While competitors from all over the UK came to battle it out for the top honours, it was the local riders who dominated the podiums, showing the strength and depth of race talent which has now emerged from the area. A hugely disproportionate number of the UK’s top mountain bikers have grown up locally and honed their skills on the trails of the Tweed Valley – an area now widely recognised as one of the world’s top mountain bike destinations.
The overall men’s win was taken by Innerleithen’s own Lewis Buchanan, just back from racing in Canada, who dominated four of the five timed stages, which were set on some of the steepest and most intimidating trails in the Tweed Valley. Gary Forrest took second place with Christo Gallagher taking the third podium place. The women’s race was won by Ella Connolly, almost one minute quicker over the day than nearest rival Polly Henderson in second, with Eilidh Wells third.
TweedLove’s Triple Crown series winners were Gary Forrest and Melissa Pearson.
This year’s TweedLove Bike Festival attracted visitors and cyclists from all over the world and has some of the highest number of attendees for any enduro races in the whole of the UK. The organisation’s bike events are now an important tourism driver for the Scottish Borders, bringing in £1million for the local economy every year. Stay tuned to tweedlove.com for news on next year’s events.