South West MTB 3-SIX-12 event – Newnham is back!

So, the general consensus seems to be that there was a lack of awareness of this event, albeit 200 or so riders attended and excellent event at Newham, in glorious sunny weather.

For those that don’t know, this was a kinds restart of the prior annual “twenty four-12” events at Newnham Park in Plymouth.     Returning back to the lower field campsite, SW MTB put a great course on with the traditional features (the big paved climb, cottage return etc) with a few variations.  It was – as always – a tough course but for once the weather held out and apart from a few lingering damp patches the trails were dry and fast.

Camping was excellent albeit with reduced attendance and I undertake two caterers pulled out as well which wasn’t the best, and the general arrangements – course, timing, showers, music, PA, lighting, transition was excellent with 3, 6, and 12 hour formats for entry.    I entered 6hr mixed age pairs with Junior – 15 – and we placed 2nd, a welcome podium after some health struggles for me.

Pretty much everyone I spoke with said they’ll be back next year and – good news – due to the decent attendance the popular 24hr category is going to be back next year!

I hope my post brings a bit more awareness to the event and within the community we can drive a bit more attendance in 2025 for this always excellent event – put this in your diaries for next year!

This years event page fyi: https://southwestmountainbiking.eventrac.co.uk/e/3six12-10393

Yeah, great weekend! Good to catch up Kryton57 and well done to you and your son – top result. I was on pit duty and also managed my first ride this year, one practice lap with my son. Obviously I was dropped everywhere.. Anyway, I am now motivated to return to regular riding, try and get some bike fitness back and will see if I can pull together a team 24 for next year.

I think for a first go with the new organisers, they did a decent job and it was a really good weekend. I know there are a few bits and pieces to tweak, but overall, its great to have this event back.

Was a very good event and even came home with tan lines.

Really enjoyed that course with a few new bits in. Looking on Strava its the most elevation gain ive ever done and longest offroad ride so happy with that.

Will be back next year.

Anyone know who the photographers were?

I did the Twentyfour:12 for 10 years in a row as a team, but a combination of factors put us off bothering for the last few years it ran.

It was getting pretty pricey and every year the facilities seemed to get a bit worse. You had to arrive earlier & earlier to get a decent camping spot & there were too many groups building large camping villages claiming an absolute ton of space they didn’t need, which meant you were forced to camp away from the trackside.

I think we had 3 good weather years out of 10 and it was bloody miserable churning round in the wet & clag. Turning up on the Thursday night or Friday morning with the inevitable rain was rubbish.

EDIT to add – well done Kryton on your (and your son’s) performance. Hopefully a bit of a boost, given your recent posts about struggling with fitness.

And a large factor was the 6hr+ drive to get down there.

It’s a shame as I used to really enjoy it; the years with the Bontrager wig-wam thing, the late night bands, the crazy DJ blokes near the shooting ground, Quaver catering. I’ve still got my souvenir mug from 2008, a frisbee & a headset-spacer that was used with a lanyard as the handover baton, but I am not sure I’ll ever make it back down there. Maybe the 12 hour event with a weekend of camping would be more palatable than the 24hour.

Glad to see they’ve brought it back, I loved riding 24/12 in the past.

It’s a shame that it only attracted small numbers this year, hopefully next year is a bit better. If they release next years dates fairly soon I might be able to get some holidays booked for it and may venture back down there for another crack at the 12h race next year.

I never seem to see much advertised anywhere for races anymore, the old XC Racer website used to be pretty good for news and info on events. It would be nice if Singletrack had a section on the website of the forum with race calendars in for everyone to access.

I was there too (12h solo on the blue Stooge singlespeed), pretty punchy course but great weather and a nice variety of trails from rooty singletrack to greasy chutes and flat out runs (Cottage and the field back into the campsite). Managed 12 laps in 11:35.

Had a great time, although that grassy slog across to the bottom of the tarmac climb can **** off for next year!

I did the 6 hour solo – I loved the course.
Reminded me of racing as a kid – quite an old school course with a few single track sections.

And the weather was lovely – although I overheated on the tarmac climb on my 3rd lap

And I have to add – well done to Mrs Yak for top step Podium 6hr!    Thanks for the gaffer tape on-the-hoof bar end repair, it stayed on and there was no performance detriment as a result  😀

Top ride abingham! We were rooting for you on your awesome singlespeed. I can’t remember if there were more singlespeeders, but your stooge was distinctive and easily the best looking bike there. Yeah, a few punchy but short climbs, but overall I thought it felt like one of the better courses and like the ones from around 2012 + and before they got shorter. Everyone liked it pretty much.

Cheers Kryton57, will pass that on. Good to hear the gaffa tape pro-bodge worked! Yours was the second bar I had fixed on the saturday morning with pro-bodge gaffa tape. The other fella had his bike detach from the top clamp of his rear bike rack on the way to the race, but the wheel straps held on, so it was being dragged with the bar dragging on the road. Anyway, the bar was shorter on one side and bit tatty so we tidied it up with the pro-bodge gaffa tape.

the best looking bike there

Who cares about results when you have the best looking bike?! I jest – had a lovely time, a bit of a dark patch of lap 8, but a good handful of sweets sorted that out, and ended up absolutely railing Cottage Return on lap 10 which was a welcome boost.

Godiva Trail Riders had a team of 4 other singlespeeders, so they were cool to see out on the course – all pushing much biggers gears than me though!

Echoing the other sentiments here, I had a great weekend and it was lovely to be back doing an endurance event at Newnham. The course seemed a pretty good amalgamation of the classic trails, although I’d have preferred some more tech (as ever).

I’d only heard about it through a chance conversation quite late in the season, so for next year they/we/whomever need to do a better job getting the word out – as soon as there’s a date announced I’ll get sharing.
As the organisers admitted there were a few teething issues, most pertinent to me being the food truck leaving early! I ended up with a very sad bodged together meal after finishing.

17 laps in 11:52 for me, first in the solos and 6th overall of the 12hr. Above all I was pleased to have not had any disasters in my first 12 solo, and I’ll certainly be back next year.

Mate, you were flying – to the point I’d assumed you were doing it with a team! Chapeau for a great ride!

Steve Hodgson (organiser) did mention about the event running a full 24hr next year, I feel that’s an itch that needs scratching…

Any tipes for food and hydration? I struggle to stay hydrated during these events and tried hard this year to drink enough water but still aleays wake up feeling dehydrated the saturday morning. Food wise, I had loads of Trek flapjacks, nuts, grapes, raisins, and a couple of egg sandwiches.
Hydration was still the biggest issue though. Each lap was getting through a 600ml bottle on the bike as well as stopping for more water and a few mouthfulls of lacazade.

Any tipes for food and hydration

I managed the whole thing on carb drink (my own blend roughly following the SIS beta fuel format) and gels (17!) without feeling hungry or having any upsets, although I realise that’s fairly atypical. I drank about 500ml/hour on average, although that definitely slowed towards the end.

I think one has to accept a slight level of dehydration at the end of these events and just focus on getting the fluid (and salt!) back in quickly afterwards.
I do make a conscious effort to drink more (water + electrolytes) in the run up to long events, especially when it’s set to be hot.

Food wise, little and often is always the way to go. I have a 30min timer set on my garmin as an ‘eat alert’, although at Newnham I was only eating every 45mins due to having quite strong carb drink mix.

Outside of random things you might crave, the only thing your body needs during exercise (under 15 hours ish duration) is relatively fast release carbs, salts and water. All the other macro and micro nutrients can wait til after the event when you’ll have more spare blood for digesting.
Working up to the high carb intakes people prefer these days (>110g/hr) takes effort and training though. Try out your race fuelling strategy in training and never try anything new on race day!

Thanks, I’ll have a look at carb drinks. Not really used them before but have used hydration tablets but they caused even more cramps so stuck to water since.

Salt is interesting as I was craving salty crisps on the drive home on Sunday.

Great to hears it’s back, “loved” 24 pairs previously. I hadn’t heard about it and there is obviously nothing on the old organisers page.

@mjsmke – I used to have the following as a heavy sweaty bastard over 24 hours on the later, shorter courses.

~500ml isotonic something per lap, like Powerade.
Occasional rice pudding pot as it’s incredibly soothing on the stomach.
Occasional pack of pork scratchings as it makes me thirsty as flip. Plus loads of calories.
Later laps I’d also have a torq gel or something similar.
I’d also be taking caffeine via coffee.

I had been using styrkr for gels and drink mix but recently started making my own

1 : 08 ratio of maltodextrin to fructose and 3g of isotonic stuff per bottle – which gives it a salty kick to begin with but i like it.
For the 6 hour race i managed 8 gels and about 80g of carbs per bottle / lap.

I also drank an 800ml bottle of the mix before the race to try and keep me hydrated as it was quite a warm day

Anyone know where the photos from the event are? Nothing on Roots and Rain yet for it…

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event13296/2024-jul-28-south-west-xc-3six12-newnham-park/photos/

Pics at Devonphoto.com.

Theres a “Newnham 3six12” Facebook page with all the details / running commentary.   Good to follow that for next year.

Most folk with us were consuming 1 gel + 1 bottle of torq per lap. Mostly 750ml, but maybe a bit less. Except for my son. He had a full sweet shop/ bakery laid out on the table and in one of the sit-down pit stops he also had one of those nice sausage and chutney slices from the coffee van. Lots of pretzels were consumed too. The bottle and gel lot were quicker…