Hannah Collingridge looks at the events scene and asks what bike races, bike gatherings and their organisers need to make them fun (again). Words Hannah Collingridge Photography Joolze Dymond Having recently been roped into helping with some bike events, I’ve been musing about what makes a good event, what turns it into a special weekend away and, can fun ever be combined with hard racing? First, let’s look at an event that’s primarily fun, before seeing what can be taken from it and applied to other events. FNY Hunting It’s the end of October in the Tweed Valley and it’s time for the Fanny Hunt at Glentress. The rain has mostly stopped and the wind has dropped just about enough so we can get the gazebos up, which for the time of year means there are pretty reasonable riding conditions. The event has a fairly simple structure: essentially it’s a great big gathering of female mountain bikers going for a ride in groups on a treasure hunt around the trails of Glentress. It’s non-competitive – but if you believe that, you don’t know much about hordes of women riding together. After the treasure hunt there’s warm food, merchandise for sale and the all-important raffle. Plus, this year a new initiative – The Great FNY Upcycling Extravaganza. So first, gather your women. In this case there are 130 of them, some local, some not so local, and a whole variety of ages and backgrounds. Groups of mates who already ride together,...
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