Sunday the 26th of August saw the Gorrick 12hour endurance event sponsored by torq. The event was held at Minley Manor not far from blackbushe, i had entered the race as a team of 4 riders originally but National Champion Sam stean pulled out leaving just 3 of us. He didnt think it would be the best prep for the World Junior XC Championships which he had been selected for a few weeks prior. So it was left up to Me, Martin Turton and Ryan Keynes to race the 3 man event.
Saturday saw heavy rain and storms which for me put a real cloud over the event as i wasnt really looking foward to riding for 12hours on and off with a course full of Mud. This wasnt to be the case as the Minley course drained superbly only leaing a few parts to the 8 mile course wet. As a team we decided it would be best to start with our quickest rider which happened to be me. After a small warm up just to get the legs going I lined up on the start line in around 5th row, Martin said there was a space much closer to the front in the 2nd row so he carried my bike round and i walked through the crowd. So now i was in a much better position to attack the furious 1st lap. A few riders wernt bext pleased that i had done this especially the Corley cycles rider Jamie newall taking the P*ss out of my chinese carbon frame. I thought ill let my riding do the talking. After a slow parade lap round the field following the quad the acellerated with Jamie Newall and Ben Thomas sprinting as if it was a 12minute race not 12hours but i still followed coming back through the field before entering the 1st bit of singletrack. I got ahead of Jamie Newall before the singletrack and never saw him for the rest of the race just trying to keep Ben thomas in my sights which did work but only before a very short period of time before the elastic snapped. I rode with a Torq rider for the rest of the lap sharing turns on the front. I asked the Torq rider which race he was in and he ignored me but then shortly after asking what race i was in so i told him but he still never replied to me as to what race he was in (which i thought was rather dumb and bad sportman of him). I continued to race coming in after the 1st lap just behind 2nd and Passing the band to Martin Turton out next rider. After each lap i did a small cool down to help my legs feel fresh before eating and drinking what i could to make sure i wouldnt have bonked later on in the race. I continued to race Hard with my quickest lap coming on my 2nd with a time of 34.52 which i was pleased about considering i had a crash (trying to pass a torq rider) with the chain coming off which lost me at lest 30 seconds. Both Ryan & Martin both kept the lap times consistent with the 2nd place riders Vc revolution slipping back to 3rd with Milbury contractors ltd coming into 2nd which put the pressure back on our team, but we didnt panic and kept the pressure on which was enough with our team taking the lead ahead of 2nd by 1 lap and 8minutes to spare completing a staggering 19 laps between us with me doing the last lap which meant i ended up doing 7 laps, 1 more than ryan and Martin. It was a really great event that was a great experience. Hope we can do the same again next year.
Results - http://timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/EVENTREPORT.aspx?eventid=219MinleyManor26/08/2012#Team Male 3
Pictures - http://joolzedymond.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1305&ingals=1&q=624
Next Race for me now is the Xtm Festival 4hr Enduro as a pair with my Dad or a friend which hasnt been confirmed yet.
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