did you race? thought about coming along to watch but got distracted.

surely the athertons have a caddy?

Good venue and the stages were good fun, but poorly marked out in places. For example, I didn’t realise there was more to stage 1 when you hit the fire road.
Also, noticed a lot of guys riding the stages without rucksacks …what’s with that? I thought you were supposed to be carrying all your gear all the time!

Some people carried around a spare bike.

carried my stuff in my pockets like i do normally

did notice alot of the locals? taking shortcuts between stages, seems a bit unfair on an enduro

or maybe im just sulking at my poor placing!

No kimbers, DQ them all till you get top 3 😉

Yep, deffo a lot of shortcuts being used on the transitions, always going to happen and hard to police. I quite enjoyed some of the transitions – especially the bit before stage 2 (a lot of people took a shortcut to stage 2 by pushing up to the start of stage 1 and heading a different and presumably easier way but they then missed the good bit). I didn’t mind really, I was out for a good ride with some timed downhills and fun, if people want to cut the course then they are only seeing themselves off.

looking at the rules: http://minienduro.tv/2013/01/rules/

shortcuts between stages aren’t mention so I suppose it allowed(unless I missed it in the rules)

Also if you don’t want to carry a bag just leave bits and bobs conveniently placed on the trail and scoop it up with your mouth on the way past: http://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/408105

I’ve never ridden @ haldon before, really enjoyed the red/blue trails + the offpiste stages. Good times

Generally good organisation but some points need addressing. No marshal in the middle of stage 1 but a 50 ft barrier that a lot of lads didn’t know which side to go on.

The cutting of the course also made for crazy numbers to be appearing in front as many rode up the road to stage 2 instead of through the 5km of red route singletrack and a prize giving that didn’t happen till 2 hrs after the planned time as none of the timing equipment had worked. For £45 snoots I would have expected a better event.

For instance my missus won the females race but her prizes have been given to the girl who finished 2nd as at the point of the prize giving they had only one timed section registered due to the faulty timing equipment. Many had to do their runs again including Dan Atherton who told me he had to re-run 9 times!! Not great when you justify the events price on superior timing equipment….

Trails though were great and the mud made for some interesting jockeying. I totalled my
brakes on the start of Saturdays practice so rode the course blind on the Sunday, some very scary seat of pants moments on stage 2 and 3. Notably the carved out gulley that threatened to take my pedals away and possibly my
Crown Jewels also!

The timing issues are a worry…. is it the system that the gravity Enduros will be using??

£45 put me off a 3 stage race but I know the guys at Haldon had set up some good off piste so will be popping by at the weekend to have a look.

Great day out and lots of fun, but given the timing issues, think its high time the Italian timing model is adopted!

Big plus for me was taking a mate down for his first Enduro and him being told by Gee that even he thought stage 3 was sketchy – my mate was blown away by the accessibility,which has to be good……

Out of interest how are the Italian ones timed?

Yep, agree with everything above! Good stages, even link sections were fun, defo some short cutting but ho hum, first race ever for me and loved every minute of it. Definately some sketchy moments on stage 2, especially the gully section which almost got me twice in practice and the mud in stage 3 which got me 3 times in total.

Can anyone whos done more enduros let me know how difficult this one was in comparison? Thinking of doing some more but not sure how much more difficult say the UK gravity enduro series is?

Awesome story about your mate and Gee Atherton! That’s what this Enduro shiz should be all about…..

And if they can sort out the timing then this will be what everyone is talking about.

+1 for what’s the Italian method? However should we have to resort to other methods when the one they have bought in is supposedly used in ski racing etc….. Bet Bode Miller would not see the funny side if his faultless run went missing or they made him jump back on the cable car for another quick ‘nip down’ 😉

I have done a bit and maybe with the exception of Innerleithen I would say that this course was up there on the tasty scale. If not completely by obstacles alone it was definitely there with weather conditions!

Italian method uses a fixed start time per rider per stage with fixed run order. Arrive late and you add to your run time. With syncronised stopwatches and a computer at the bottom of each stage, it’s not only foolproof but also incentivises fitness as you need to get round fast enough to prepare.

Timing method above is basically what road time trials have used for the last 60 plus years. Fixed start time FTW with a little computer tech thrown in as back up.

As for technicality of stages, this was definitely up there. Not the same levels of speed but with wetness and insane amounts of mud and polished roots, it reminded me how my UK skills have waned while I focused on European races last season…..! Still, a great day out and lots of laughs, but my washing machine sounds like it’s dying!

The timing screw-up is what puts me off these events.

Until they get that sorted, I’m staying clear…

Fixed start times and stopwatches would bring the costs down too. 😉

Awesome story about your mate and Gee
Atherton! That’s what this Enduro shiz
should be all about…..

I reckon the sponsors of big teams will soon see the value in this. Look at Fab Barel, as in demand as ever even though he’s semi retired, because he’s a bloody nice bloke who engages with your average racer. The Athertons were really cool this weekend too and I can see them doing more stuff like this…..

As for technicality of stages, this was definitely up there. Not the same levels of speed but with wetness and insane amounts of mud and polished roots, it reminded me how my UK skills have waned while I focused on European races last season…..! Still, a great day out and lots of laughs, but my washing machine sounds like it’s dying!

Yep, my washing machine is currently banging my shoes around like its the end of the world. Glad it you didnt find it to easy, that would have depressed me as I was slipping all over and my eyes almost popped out first run dowmn the gulley in practice.

Really good to hear that everyone that rode the trails enjoyed them. Stage 2 (Smelly Ring) has been in existence (in roughly the same guise) for over 10 years 🙂 Used to make great night riding

Stage 2 (Smelly Ring) has been in existence (in roughly the same guise) for over 10 years Used to make great night riding

still does, i love those trails!

Steve Parr

If you want to see how good the timing will be for our event, get yourself signed up

Anyone know what caused the problems at this one then? Really hoping they finally have it right and maybe this is just a one-off.

xiphon – Member

The timing screw-up is what puts me off these events.

There’s various ways to time it, they all have their ups and downs… Frinstance, I like the Sportident tags, but apparently they’re a little inaccurate over the course of a day because of the timers used in the tagging boxes. On the other hand, they do work reliably and I’m yet to see an event where the differences at the pointy end of the race are close enough for it to be an issue.

kimbers – Member

did notice alot of the locals? taking shortcuts between stages, seems a bit unfair on an enduro

There’s only really 3 ways to do it, either police the transitions (really pretty impractical, there’ll never be enough marshalls), rely on the riders (to not shortcut, and to self-marshall people who do) or just peg out a good, direct transition and then don’t worry too much about it.

The Innerleithen ones usually mark out a recommended transition, but it’s never been a needlessly long one so people usually just follow it. They don’t seem to care if you deviate as long as you stay off the route. Does mean you can’t inflate the route for the fireroad fans though. Works for me though, simple is better than complicated and rules that are widely flaunted and not inforced are no good to anyone.

Maybe to help people stop doing short cuts, do what 12 car do, if you approach the start of a stage from the wrong direction you get DQ or time penalty.
Or have a stamp/punch/number (like orienteering) on a post at the furthest point of the transition and riders have to take a not of it to prove they been there.

There’s only really 3 ways to do it, either police the transitions (really pretty impractical, there’ll never be enough marshalls), rely on the riders (to not shortcut, and to self-marshall people who do) or just peg out a good, direct transition and then don’t worry too much about it.

or at least put it in the rule that you have to follow the transitions.

For instance my missus won the females race but her prizes have been given to the girl who finished 2nd as at the point of the prize giving they had only one timed section registered due to the faulty timing equipment. Many had to do their runs again including Dan Atherton who told me he had to re-run 9 times!! Not great when you justify the events price on superior timing equipment….

No they didn’t – they’re (the prizes) being sent by post, and all podiumers have been, or are being contacted for delivery addresses. There was no prize giving at the event, due to not the times for Stage 3 not being able to be downloaded – they had a paper copy of the times there, and a vote was actually taken with the people there if they wanted to do prizes based on stage 1 and 2, or if they wanted to wait for them to go through and confirm the stage 3 times. People wanted the stage 3 times included.

The timing itself wasn’t an issue – it’s proven and the organisers have been using the exact same system at the Mini DH for years. A freak power loss for the equipment on Stage 3 apparently caused the problem with downloading the times. It’s a shame it happened at their first enduro event for sure. saying ‘none of the timing equipment worked’ isn’t really fair. In reality, the results were delayed and some people got a bit chilly….

I didn’t do the Enduro but interested to know which bit is Smelly Ring?
Been riding up there for years 15+ but on my own or with a couple of mates so don’t really know all the names of tracks.
Was up there last night and managed to wipe out on the greasy/rooty mess on the red run, in my defence i was on the SS ridged.

cx_monkey – Member

The timing itself wasn’t an issue – it’s proven and the organisers have been using the exact same system at the Mini DH for years. A freak power loss for the equipment on Stage 3 apparently caused the problem with downloading the times.

What about the re-running of stages though?

the guy parked next to us had to rerun stage 2 I think as they missed him, he wasnt too happy

good point. don’t know why that was – I’m pretty sure it was only Dan that had to re-run anything though.

I really enjoyed it, would definitely do another.

cx_monkey – Member
good point. don’t know why that was – I’m pretty sure it was only Dan that had to re-run anything though.

at least 1 other did…
the guy parked next to us had to rerun stage 2 I think as they missed him, he wasnt too happy

cx_monkey – Member
good point. don’t know why that was – I’m pretty sure it was only Dan that had to re-run anything though.

at least 1 other did…
the guy parked next to us had to rerun stage 2 I think as they missed him, he wasn’t too happy

There were only two stage 2 re-runs (excluding Dan Atherton who had to re-run all 3 i believe), one of which was *cough* Elbry *cough* as his number board had fallen off so not a timing issue. Surely thats just bad zip tying and should have been a DQ?!

All in all a pretty good event I thought especially as a percentage of your entry fee has been earmarked for trail maintenance.

All in all a pretty good event I thought especially as a percentage of your entry fee has been earmarked for trail maintenance.

That great news!

Elbry had to do it again, as it was so gnarly.

@ CX Monkey.

Mate, I was there with five others and I raced it also. There were loads of people going back up for re-runs. I lost count of the amount of people who were in the twenties and thirties who asked me could they pass me at the start due to being told to come back for a re-run due to no time being registered.. Also, my missus and the girl who come second we’re told no time had been allocated and they needed to go back to the start. On arrival with Dan Atherton he was told to go and then my missus and her fellow competitor were told that the course was now closed, so at that point they had no times.

When the boards of results went up initially both my missus and the no 2 female had been given results of DNF due to no times being recorded. On the point that we left at 1800 hrs they had one time recorded and my missus was given 2nd because of it. They were just about to hand out the prizes when we give up and went home so we suspected that her 1st place had been given out as that’s what they said was going to happen.

The prize giving was meant to be at 1600 mind so 2 hrs with not a microphone announcement or a guy jumping on a table and explaining is quite frankly, a shambles. So for you to say that it was only 1 person effected is wrong. That’s all that you knew about but as you can see on here there were loads of people affected, including Dan Atherton who when we were chatting to him and Gee he was completely finished with the amount of riding he had to do.

There is no point making excuses here. Riding was amazing. old School, rooty and down right fun. Organisation when things started to fall apart was not even good enough to be called bad.

Go on, be honest, did you hear any public announcement of what we going on in the two hrs we stood around like lemons waiting for a straight answer while the guy sat in his caravan typing away?

If you did then we must have been at a different event. This is not a hard thing, I ski race also and in 6 years of competition only once has the timing gone tits due to a holiday maker crashing through the start gate.

It needs to get better for the money we pay.

Generallevi – I’m not going to argue the toss with you – you’re obviously adamant…

I was there all day, and raced it too, along with lots of other people I know. And yes, at roughly 4.45pm, Chris Roberts (organiser) did speak to all that were hanging around for final results and prize giving, and ask for their opinion on what they’d prefer to happen regards awarding based on stage 1 & 2, or wait and include 3 when confirmed. Maybe you missed it, but it definitely happened.

As it happens I also left at 6pm. It was dark and there was one other car left in the car park – a silver Peugeot, Must have been you I guess…

Cool little interview with Chris Roberts from the guys at More Dirt.

http://www.moredirt.co.uk/features/Chris-Roberts—The-Mini-Enduro-Interview/3868/

Explains a bit about the timing muck arounds…

Great day tho… roll on the next one!

@cx monkey,
Your right mate, no need for us to be arguing the toss, there is enough of that sort of thing that goes on here! I do totally respect your views as I hope you can mine. Big race, different perspectives and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I know what happened from where we were stood however you saw what you saw.

I actually left as they were lining the trophies up on the table. We needed to get back to Liverpool and when we saw Chris chatting to small pockets of people we decided that we thought he owed the hardcore 20 who were left an explanation instead of just talking to a few, especially as we had been asking for updates since four.

Our transporter pulled out of there at 1756 as I remember clocking the time on the dashboard as we drove out. He must have done the vote a few mins later.

I do a lot of races, some in the UK and some in Belgium and I believe that if Chris had of kept the big group informed about what he was doing at around five, then not as many would of walked off or been left in the dark. I also think there would have been a lot more understanding about the re runs. It’s my opinion and that of those who were with me, two of those getting on two separate podiums.

I do however appreciate yours and I am genuinely sorry if it comes across like I am forcing my opinion on you. I was just trying to respond constructively to your initial message.

All the very best,
Lee.