Manx 100 Cancelled Due to Route Sabotage

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The Manx 100 was set to go ahead last weekend. The event, scheduled for Sunday 25 July is a single lap mountain bike ultra-marathon that takes place on the Isle of Man. On Saturday, an announcement was made on the Manx 100 Facebook that the race was cancelled due to route sabotage.

Yes, the event has been cancelled due to ROUTE SABOTAGE. I guess most of you know how much time and effort goes into creating this event, but the events over the last 48 hours have meant that we have no choice but to fully cancel the event. We are way beyond sorry.

Manx 100
Photo: Manx 100 Facebook

Event Cancellation

With little time to inform people, the organisers had no choice but to make this difficult decision. Sending an email out to riders that said:

Sorry to have to report that the event has been cancelled. This is due to Route sabotage and therefore no idea if the route will be there. This has meant for safety reasons we can not run the event. I rode the full 100km route on Thursday and there were only arrows missing from 3 areas – two on the road and one in Cringle just up from the reservoir. These were easily fixable and that was planned for Friday.

Later that evening we began to get reports that the route was missing from Arrasey and Earystane with an eye witness seeing a mountain biker in black lycra grabbing an arrow off a post and throwing it over a hedge. We then decided, hey ho, we can fix that and then on Friday went out and discovered that as well as missing arrows, others had been left but twisted to send you the wrong way (eg down the enduro track in Arrasey)…Ultimately EVERY ARROW HAD BEEN MESSED WITH, either thrown away or turned to point in the wrong direction.

Earystane the same, every arrow either missing or turned. We fixed all these, and then we checked Cringle car park to Car Park 1. All arrows there. However, after work, David checked from car park 1 to Renshent where he discovered lots and lots of arrows missing/ turned as before. This morning we made the call to cancel the event for everyone’s safety. We are still getting reports that arrows are missing/turned etc (top of Arrasey). This means that whoever this is, is not giving up. I am way beyond sorry to have to give you this news. We have your goodie bags at the grandstand so if you want to turn up as planned and get those that would be ace, but clearly, if you can’t make it, or don’t want to then that is also fine. I have messaged and or talked to all riders from the UK.

The Manx 100 trail arrows.

Manx 100 Will Return in 2022

It appears the trouble had started from 22 July, when the Manx 100 informed people out riding to use the GPX route, as someone had started altering the arrows then. Posting on their Facebook page, Nigel Morris, the event organiser shared a message from his wife.

To the person/s that decided to sabotage the event you are obviously not mentally mature enough to process the potential end result of your actions, DEATH of the competitors. If you are and that was your intention how you sleep is beyond me…What it has also created is an inbox full of help and suggestions, so now there is a bigger pool of helpers and the Manx 100 miles, 100km and the 50km will all be back next year…we love nothing more than seeing the elation on the rider’s faces when they finish. However, for the riders who have trained and come across for this they have been left with uncertainty for future events.

Lisa Morris (Manx 100 Organiser’s Wife).

Classic Rides: The Isle of Man.

Bikepacking England


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Not too good about writing about myself, but not so bad at writing about other things. There was a time that I hated bikes, but then they became my life. Wouldn't be the person I am if I hadn't been on this journey. Here's to bikes, drinking tea and everything that comes with life on two wheels. I'm Lauren, I like bikes and writing about them. Always trying my best and up for adventures.

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Home Forums Manx 100 Cancelled Due to Route Sabotage

Viewing 22 posts - 1 through 22 (of 22 total)
  • Manx 100 Cancelled Due to Route Sabotage
  • abingham
    Full Member

    What a monumental cock end.

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    Sadly could be a forum member

    mtbfix
    Full Member

    You’d have to have a serious grievance to move every arrow on such a long course! Ludicrous behaviour.

    fooman
    Full Member

    “mountain biker in black lycra grabbing an arrow off a post and throwing it over a hedge” worth checking Stava to try and identify this tool? I hope they end up in court for loss and damages.

    tjagain
    Full Member

    If its on open public paths i can understand ( if not condone) I had a bad experience with the “rat race” in edinburgh and I bet I am not the only one. We were out for a ride, had a chain gang come past us on the canal towpath forcing us to crash. Had a marshall try to block us on the same tow path. Just people behaving like utter arses on open public paths because they were racing. Chain gang along a canal towpath is not on

    Two sides to every story and all that.

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    Dickheadedness aside, in 2021 can the default assumption not be that everyone has a bike computer or smartphone, and that determines the ‘official’ course?

    Physical arrows being a secondary aid with the understanding of the possibility of tampering?

    jeffl
    Full Member

    Must admit I did wonder about GPS. Done a couple of sportives and whilst they have arrows they also gave a GPS of the route to stick in the bike computer. But don’t know how long it would take to complete the Manx 100, so not sure if battery life would be an issue.

    Edit: oh so 100km, seems obvious when you think about it 🙂

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    I had a bad experience with the “rat race” in edinburgh and I bet I am not the only one. We were out for a ride, had a chain gang come past us on the canal towpath forcing us to crash. Had a marshall try to block us on the same tow path.

    Unfortunately that type of event is full of entitled Audi driving IT consultants. I’d have DQed them but I only ran a grassroots race.

    I imagine the marshal got an earful

    As for sportives too many ride them as races, walking in the lakes last weekend there was one, 99% fine, just one Strava knob screaming past shouting “rider” unnecessary as we were already in single file on one side and every other rider got past with a polite thanks.

    iomnigel
    Free Member

    I’m the crestfallen organiser of this event. The riders do get a GPS but when we start visiting the singletrack the plethora of trails means in the plantations means that it is easy to be on the wrong track when you think you are on the correct one.

    As well as removing the arrows the *womble also pointed riders onto private lanes, private tracks and open moorland as well as down downhill / enduro tracks….

    We will be back bigger and stronger for 2021. And of course, after the last three years of biblical weather, last Sunday was beautiful, warm with no wind and dusty…

    andybrad
    Full Member

    gutted.

    as others have said some strava detective work will probably yield results. (unless hes on here)

    danposs86
    Full Member

    Someone really keen to not lose their KOM?

    ayjaydoubleyou
    Full Member

    I’m the crestfallen organiser of this event. The riders do get a GPS but when we start visiting the singletrack the plethora of trails means in the plantations means that it is easy to be on the wrong track when you think you are on the correct one.

    I didn’t intend my comment in a mean way. I’ve never been to the IOM, and dont know the terrain, nor am I familiar with Manx access issues, but similar sounding (50k+ single lap events) I have done in England have relied on GPX and arrows together, there are certain areas where arrows were insufficent alone (whether they were tampered with, or just poorly placed) and having a GPX, or being in sight of riders in front was necessary.

    Of course, in England, these are very officially “not a race” due to laws about racing on public rights of way.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    IOM doesn’t have too many local riders.

    Round them up and interrogate them.

    You must have a suitable contact you can call?

    sunnrider
    Free Member

    Next year use biodegradable spray paint and put multiple arrows at critical points.

    DickBarton
    Full Member

    Dickheadedness aside, in 2021 can the default assumption not be that everyone has a bike computer or smartphone, and that determines the ‘official’ course?

    Please don’t…as much as technology is here, not everyone enjoys riding their bikes with their head down staring at an arrow on a computer to tell them where they should be going…marker arrows are perfectly adequate.

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    Of course, in England, these are very officially “not a race” due to laws about racing on public rights of way.

    At least one organiser in England runs a “race” race which goes over a brideway

    We all know that MTB/gravel sportives publish times as part of the event proposition

    steveh
    Full Member

    You can race across rights of way and race on footpaths with appropriate council closures in place but not on bridleways at all. Go figure.

    mistercat
    Free Member

    As a local rider who knows the organisers I saw how much time and effort they had put into marking the course.

    I’d studied the GPX links that they had sent out and had a look at the course but in some cases a GPS just isn’t accurate enough – forks in the track – one way is the correct track and the other is the downhill jump line with gap jumps across fire roads…

    One example I saw of tampering was in the next to last plantation you are heading down a fire road. On monday night and arrow pointed left into a cut through. On sunday the arrow was lying over a fence 15 foot away.

    On sunday a group headed out and did the 100 and another did the 50 just to stick 2 fingers up at whoever had done it. They might have stopped the event but they didn’t stop us riding !

    fooman
    Full Member

    Wildlife cameras can be had pretty cheap, next time might be worth putting a few in choice locations to help identify anyone sabotaging.

    cloggy
    Full Member

    Few people have any notion of the time and money that has to be invested to make an event happen. Basically whoever did this will have cost the organiser thousands.
    We never gave out a GPX file as we had landowners’ permission for much of the route but I was endlessly asked….. It never occurred to me that someone could use such a file to screw up my event. I’m not judging as the legal position is different on the Island.
    It’s more than likely that someone decided they didn’t want a mass participation event during Covid; not that I regard that as a valid reason. But you can never fathom the depths of some folks self centred views. I had arrows removed for ten straight years.

    cloggy
    Full Member

    In England and Wales you can apply to run a test of speed on any Public Right of Way but one, you can’t apply to run a test of speed for bicycles on a Bridleway [Rally Cars are fine though]. If you break the law in making an event a test of speed by posting times for a single course or handing out prizes based on performance your event insurance is invalid and the riders personal insurance may be invalidated too. That’s what stopped bikes being included in The Man Against Horse event at Llanwrtyd. The event sponsor William Hill were informed of the legal position by their Lawyers. This is an old chestnut that comes up every few years with a new influx of organisers.

    myself
    Full Member

    “Next year use biodegradable spray paint and put multiple arrows at critical points.”

    Absolutely do NOT do this!

    A couple of years ago some idiot did this on a course round the back of Walna Scar road – you could see it for miles off and it stayed put for months – totally inappropriate!

Viewing 22 posts - 1 through 22 (of 22 total)

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