Gorrick Saddle Skedaddle Spring Series 2011

Round 3

Sunday 6th March 2011

Race Organisors

Mountain bike racing has been popular for over 20 years and Gorrick has been at the forefront of racing in the south of England since 1992. There is no more powerful thrill than racing a mountain bike against fellow competitors, the chase and be chased effect, the riding at intensity that pushes your reserves, leaves you drained, telling yourself never again, then that afterglow that will bring you back time and again. The legacy of racing at such intensity is improved fitness and improved bike handling skills that no amount of every day riding can possibly give you plus the chance to meet with literally hundreds of like minded people. Gorrick can offer you a wide range of cross country mountain bike racing, from our traditional format classic racing, our hugely popular Spring Series events now running for well over a decade, and long distance enduro's.

You can find more details on the Gorrick XC Racing website.

Race Results

Click here to view the Lap by lap analysis, race results and fastest rider details
Official TimeLaps results for Gorrick Saddle Skedaddle Spring Series round 3

Race photos

If you have any photos or video footage and want to show off your skills then please contact me.
Official photos by Joolze Dymond
Photos on 1st Gear Cycles Facebook page

Race Videos

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Race reports

If you have a few words about your performance (expletives optional), some praise for the organisers or feel like putting pen to paper to write a report please contact me.

Andrew Walker #910 (not in results due to DNF)

The parking was sufficient, the course was good, I didn't think the fire road was very long at all. The singletrack technicality wsa spot on, a good challenge for all riders and fairly well marked out for a club event.

Matt Craner #670 - Beyond MTB/WDMBC/RRP/Specialized - Super Veteran Male - Finished 4th (round 1: 13th)

So is this spring just round the corner... I think I saw the sun today and the course was nice n dry!!!!!This week saw a good turn out from the Beyond Mountain Bike / WDMBC riders.

The venue was a visit back to Heath Warren which apparently hasn't been used for a while. The course was fantastic although I am bit biased as it suited me down to a tee. A long drag from the start saw a bit of an opportunity to draft both at start and if you could get on someone's tail also on subsequent laps. Then it dived into the trees for a fest of twisty single-track with quite a few mini bomb-hole type diversions for some fun'n games. The course was in great condition with very little mud, some new track through the woods made some loamy surface which required a bit of push. Sections also were included which I suspect made quite a few hardtail riders cry as I gather required a lot of out of the saddle work - definitely a XC full sus course. The back loop had again some nice swoopy single-track with a few short climbs and some tight twisty single-track through the trees that didn't offer itself to anyone with wide bars!

First race for club riders was the supervets. After a shocker of first race when I punctured meant not getting gridded but the open start meant I could tuck into about 8th position and take a big draft until we got to the first section of single-track at which point I was on the back of the leading pack. I just about managed to keep the likes of Paul Hopkins in my sights until the end of the first lap when they started to pull away. This left Lloyd Bettles, Richard John and I in a further group of three chasing. Richard started to drop off which left Lloyd and myself battling away for about a 1.5 laps swapping back and forth. It wasn't until a section of single-track that I made a push for it that opened a 15sec gap that I was able to sustain but eased up in the last 1/3 lap to allow him to come back (duh!) with Rory Fosher also picking up the pace and often proving a strong finisher. One more big push though meant I put more time on the chasers and managed to come in 4th which was a pleasing result. Just how do I get those 4 min to catch the likes of Paul Hopkins - no more eating for me and more intervals!!

In the Vets, Jon Pierce was riding strong in a large field of 50+ riders. Jon was going well and starting on his last lap was only a couple of minutes behind the leaders and clearly having a good tustle with Nik Pullen and in the end only just losing out to him by a mere 6 seconds to come in an excellent 4th in a very competitive field.

The grand vets and the evergreen Rob Jackson and Brent Skinner were flying the club colours. Rob was pushing hard to catch Jef Sharp and was foiled by a gaggle of riders that blocked a part of the single-track which meant he had to unclip to get by losing critical seconds on Jef. Still Rob pushed on to get the best Club result of the day coming in 2nd and Brent with a great 18th.

Isaac Pucci was racing in the sport and putting in some consistent lap times that saw him comfortably to an excellent 8th position.

Roy S was out in the open race and in a large field placed an excellent 12th.

Needless to say we had our share of mechanicals with Stephen Tebbit rolling a tyre on the first lap placing him right at the back of an 85 strong field. He then went into motoring gear which saw him push out lap times that would have placed him in the top three - very impressive considering all the people he had to get by on a lot of single track with often limited pacing spots - awesome time trialling! Finally Martin Turton was out there in Sport and put in an excellent first lap but a mechanical saw him drop out of the race.

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