Mountain Bike Madness!
The first of five rounds of the now very well established Midweek MTB Madness mini series took place on Wednesday at Lee Quarry, in the upper Rossendale valley. Courtesy of Rossendale Road Club and many special friends, more than 100 riders took to the rocks and rolls of a 2 mile course on the well used, classic trail centre.
The event, put on by Rossendale RC and Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli veteran Dave Haygarth for the fourth year running, was a variation on the course used in 2023. With a venue offering so many options, this set of trails and tracks combined to make a fast, safe but ultimately still technical string of problems for the riders - aged from first time Juveniles to over 70 stalwarts - and all inbetween.
With two current national veteran champions making up just some of the quality field, this typified the superb grass roots nature of our Midweek events. To have first time, have-a-go-heroes race alongside Olympians and legends of the sport is exactly what we love about Midweek MTB Madness. And it DIDN'T RAIN !!!
Nick Craig (SCOTT Pioneer DJ) was first over the line, after riding the entire 'Racer' cat race tied with Paul Oldham and Will Weatherill (both Hope Factory Racing) - the three were a cut above, and enjoyed relaxed conversation most of the way through, until the trouse ended on the final lap. First woman Racer was also the first Junior - Maddy Moorhouse Smith (Hope Factory Racing) was similarly a cut above her competition, and clearly in form after her visit the European championship in Romania at the weekend, where she finished 13th in the xcc and 28th in the xco as a 1st year Junior.
In the Youth and Juveniles field, Charlie Albone (Shibden Cycling Club) was first Youth in the Open cat, and Isaac Vickery (ROTOR Race Team) first Juvenile, and in the girls Jessica Oldham went one up on her dad's position and rounded off a good evening for Hope Tech Factory Racing, as first Juvenile and was just one place behind the first Youth girl Poppy Spencer (Shibden Cycling Club) .
The next round of the series is in Wythenshawe on 29th May.
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