State of UK Enduro Racing: Llandegla Night Enduro

Aran’s first attempt at racing in the dark and his first race onboard an ebike.

It’s November, the conventional Enduro and Downhill season has finished in the UK. The weather is rubbish. And we are approaching Christmas at an alarming rate of knots. For some however (myself included) a summer of racing mountain bikes (usually) in the sun wasn’t enough. For us Mini Enduro kicks off the winter season with a night race at Llandegla.

For me, this is a weekend of firsts: my first attempt at racing in the dark and, my first race onboard an ebike.

Something which I do have more experience in however, is racing in the wet. And judging by the apocalyptic sounds from outside my window as I write this intro on Friday night, it’s going to be biblically wet.

Race day

Llandegla is a trail centre made up of long flowy trails on well-built tracks with not too much steepness. But you would be mistaken to expect that this venue would lead to an easy or tame race. The stages were tough from a physical point of view and whilst there wasn’t much in the way of off piste – due to the darkness and the horrid conditions – this was quite a welcome omission.

Despite having done a few night rides recently I massively underestimated how difficult this race would be.

Normally on an Enduro race you have the reassurance of practicing the tracks before racing. Llandegla NIght Enduro was different. Whilst you could practice in the morning, the loop was pretty big and if you wanted to re-ride stages in the evening (as is permitted under the ‘mash-up’ format) energy management becomes crucial. Secondly, trails have an ‘interesting’ characteristic of looking completely different in the dark!

Racing started at 4pm. In theory you could get at least one stage done in the semi-light. Again, the weather threw a spanner in the works here; fog and drizzle arrived to further shorten the daylight hours and make racing just that bit more difficult.

Racing finished around 8pm after a few cold and wet hours on the hill. The stages were all fairly similar, staying firmly in the ‘trail centre’ remit. Stage 2 was the shortest and the most pure gravity stage; not much sprinting and a very short and very muddy off-piste section.

In summary then, there was potentially plenty to complain about. But in spite of this, not many riders were grumbling. After all, you don’t show up to a night race expecting a nice easy day in the saddle. Spirits were high and I think that’s what made it such a good event.

I heard the phrase “I’m just here for a bit of fun, I don’t really care about getting a result” countless times (unusually for racers though, I think this time it was true).

One Planet Adventure and Mini Downhill did a lot to ensure the fun aspect to racing was upheld in spite of the conditions. Stage 2 had some coloured floodlights and a DJ bringing up the vibe (which was welcome after Stage 1 being one of the more demanding stages of the day).

Most of all though, as ever, it was the fellow racers that made Llandegla’s night race so enjoyable. For frequent racers it was an opportunity to catch up with your racing mates and for the whole field it was a good time for everyone to enjoy/endure together.

Results

Sam Kaye has had a season to be proud of in the under 18s taking a couple of podiums in the Welsh Enduro Series and a win at an early Mini Enduro round. A nice start to the off season then for Sam, taking the fastest time of the day and his first Overall win (by a decent gap too).

Aiden Humphries of the 13-16 category impressively took the second fastest time of the day with David Moore of the E-MTB 40-49 category joining the two youngsters on the Overall podium.

Lindsay Hanley (EMTB 40+) added to a disgustingly quick racing record and took the fastest time for the Women by 8 seconds with current National 4X title holder Katherine Byng taking 2nd. Sarah Morgan (EMTB 40+) completed the Women’s Overall podium 7 seconds ahead of the 4th Overall fastest time in the Women’s.

Within categories there were a number of good close battles. In the Women’s U19 category Eryn Hadley and Ceri Edwards fought it out to be just separated by 1.9 seconds at the end of the day with Eryn taking the win and both riders sitting 4th and 5th in the Overall (the fastest non e-bikers in the women’s field).

The Male 19-29 category had one of the closest battles I’ve seen at an Enduro race. In the end after 3 stage wins and a 3rd on Stage 3, Tim Freeman managed to beat Jake Thomas by a miniscule 0.03 seconds.

As for yours truly, I massively underestimated night racing and suffered the consequences. Once I had ditched the steamed-up goggles, and got my light vaguely pointing in the right direction, I did start to get into the flow of things. However, it was mainly fitness that was lacking. I finished 7th in my category with my best time on the least physical Stage 4.

Conclusions

Night racing is tough but Llandegla is a great place for it. Due to the consistency and size of Llandegla’s trail centre network there are plenty of tracks to run a good selection of testing stages. It is also especially nice for a night race that no public roads are ever used which makes for safer and more enjoyable racing.

One Planet Adventure also provided a nice base at the end of the race with a central fireplace cafe and some dry seating, finishing this race in a wet field with a couple of tents would have been miserable.

If you want a fun challenge during the off season, and a chance to test your nightriding skillset and fitness, Llandegla was the place for it. A big thanks to Chris and the Mini Enduro team for hosting and marshalling in some tough conditions.