Event Report: Bontrager Twentyfour 12
Newnham Park 26-27 July 2008
Images: Rob Crayton and Joolze Dymond
Report by Joolze Dymond
The Bontrager Twentyfour12 is an endurance mountain bike event aimed at encouraging both novices and more experienced mountain bikers to come along and take part in a huge festival of mountain bike racing over 12 or 24 hours. Now in its third year, the event has quickly established itself as one of the friendliest and most relaxed enduro events in the UK. Beset with some pretty awful weather for its first 2 outings, fingers were crossed that it would be third time lucky!
This year the event was situated at one of the UK's best loved courses, Newnham Park, Plymouth, a real pedigree mountain bike venue with miles of classic singletrack, stunning scenery, a few leg stretching climbs, plus a few cooling river crossings which came in handy as the weekend was baked in glorious hot sunshine. The event had something for everyone, from the complete novice right through to the experienced enduro rider.
The main 12 and 24 hour races started at midday on Saturday, with hundreds of riders surging forward to get stuck in, led out by two recently crowned National XC champions, Jenny Copnall and Debbie Burton. The 12 hour race finished at midnight with the 24 hour one continuing onto Midday on Sunday. New for this year was the introduction of the 'Torchbearer 12' - as one 12-hour race finished then another one began to the dulcet tones of a jazz singer, bringing fresh riders into the race to 'face the music'.
The course itself utilised the best of Newnham Park, eight miles of sinuous singletrack, combined with some stiff climbs, topped off with some classic descents and at least one refreshing river crossing if you were brave enough! As riders flew into the transition area, the beaming smiles on their faces were enough to tell you it was fun out there!
It was interesting to have so many races within a race going on throughout the 24 hours and there were lots of familiar faces, as Elite XC riders rubbed shoulders with complete novices as they all fought out their own individual battles.
The 12 hr Mixed Pairs category boasted a few big names and looked like it was going to be a well contested race, with World Cup rider Kate Potter, teaming up with hubby Ian, to take on competition from Ireland in the form of Ryan Sherlock and Mel Spath. The XCRacer/Certini pairing of Maddie Horton and Phil Morris were keen to make their mark too! These three teams all clocked up a huge 20 laps, as the eight mile course just flowed so quickly, it was a delight to finally ride dry and dusty trails after a pretty damp summer thus far! Over the opening couple of hours the three contesting teams had mere minutes separating them, and still they kept pushing on. It was the Torq/Kona pairing of Sherlock and Spath that had the edge and took victory with a 24 min advantage. The Potter duo took second with Horton and Morris taking third just eight mins later.
Torq/Kona were also triumphant in the Men's 12 hr Pairs as Matt Loake and Phil Coad managed to hold off the Donut Appreciation Society (!) pairing of Adi Scott and Anthony White. Sam and Rob (Rob Koppenhol and Sam Whittlesea) took third.
Liz Scallia teamed up with Nadine Spearing for the 12 hr Women's Pairs and romped to victory with an impressive two lap advantage. Nadine was left at the start of the race, unsure if she was actually going to end up riding solo, as Liz was held up on the M5, where an accident earlier in the morning caused the motorway to close stopping quite a few competitors to get to Plymouth in time to start the race. However after a few hours Nadine was grateful to hand over to her team mate and even more relieved at midnight when they came home with the win. Torq rider Lydia Gould teamed up with Jackie Roberts of beyond Mountain Bikes to take second after a tough battle with Debbie Burton and Linda Broom, who took third.
Ruth Owen-Evans riding her first (and probably her last!) 12 hr had a ding-dong battle with Sara Randle, with the former 24hr Twentyfour/12 Solo champion pushing the Salsa rider all the way. Owen-Evans eventually held on and took the win with a clear lap advantage whist Randle was delighted to be able to finish and celebrated with a donated can of champagne. Alyson Bexfield just nudged ahead of a gutted Sinead McLaren to take third. Veteran 12hr Solo Woman winner Sally Daw did a cracking 14 laps and would have won the younger category too boot!
Yet another Torq rider was locked in mortal combat as the Men's 12h Solo race was fought out between James Lister and Matt Page. Lister started at his usual frantic pace, leaving Page riding more conservatively, slowly picking his way round the field. Eventually the steam train of Lister started to run out of puff leaving the consistent Page to snatch victory in the last few laps. Lister had to be content with second place, less than six minutes adrift. Mike Tomlinson picked up third place.
Despite stiff competition, including Keith Bontrager himself, Colin Smith took the honours in the Vets 12hr Solo, the only Vet to rack up 14 laps. While just 5 minutes separated the next three finishers.
It looked like holidays certainly helped the winners of the 12hr Open Mixed team, as the 4 riders, James Dymond, Iain Collins, Jon Roberts and Kirsty Eastwood, all riding for AQuickRelease.com made short work of their race racking up 19 laps giving them a two-lap advantage over Bigfoot Buddies, with Team Recycled picking up third spot.
Fielding a substitute from Torq, in the shape of Matt Hart, after a team member was unable to make the race, team Yeti/Goldtec, managed to keep hold of the lead in the Men's 12h Team and take the win despite being chased all the way by the folk from Southforkracing.co.uk.
Third spot was another close shave with The Riding DJ's of Red Mutha, in association with Simon Turner, who took turns spinning the discs with spinning their legs. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't quite pip Expresso Grupetto boys to the post. A mere 78 secs separated them.
In the Open 12h Female category it was the girls for Southampton Uni who managed to hold off the strong challenge from the newbies of the Trek Fitness Challenge, the pull of a champagne finish enough to keep them going out for a final lap.
Celebrations quickly got underway, as the 12 hour riders cruised home to warm clothes and bottles of beer. Meanwhile the remaining 24 hr riders continued on their journey into he night and were soon joined by a fresh input of riders as the 'Torchbearers' 12 hr races got underway. Now the riders were not only serenaded by the DJ's out in the forest but now a jazz singer crooned gentle love songs as the riders sailed past. Another surreal but delightful touch that you'll find at enduro events, making you either question your sanity or your taste in music!
With a stonking 26 laps under their belts, the girls of the London Phoenix Chix team took the win in the Open Female race, and were keen to spread the message of how much fun the event is and just wished they had more girlies out their to contend with.
The Open Men's category had no such problems with a rash of teams keen to get on the podium. A competitive race soon unfolded between the two front runners: XCRacer.com & The 69er Collective. Now if team manager Andy of the 69ers could actually count his team may have been even closer, but fielding just 4 men in a 5 men team may have been their downfall, that and the fact they were all riding singlespeed, oh and one of their team was suffering from food poisoning, so all in all not quite a level playing field! However they did well to score a massive 39 laps, but it wasn't enough to unseat the Xcracer team, who picked up the win with a 40 min advantage.
They do say that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, but in the Open Mixed team it was the Mad Cows who braved the hot sun and clocked up a barking (or should that be mooing?) 33 laps to take the win with the Soft Pedaling team cruising their way into second spot ahead of Team Sophie.
The 2 Keith's (Evans and Jones) made short work of the Men's 24 hr Pairs certainly showing they were 'Back on Track' taking the win with a cool 36 laps, four laps clear of rivals from Southampton and Bath Universities Steven Birch and Tom Blackmore. While team Hairy & Tubby (Ben Johnson & Sam Hunt) held off the other Southampton Uni team to take third.
Heather Wilson and Neil Halcrow made yet another winning pairing as they took the win in the 24h Mixed Pairs, despite Neil's liking for a bit of a swim mid lap they managed to hold off the DRR1 pairing of Ros Fish and Sean O'Leary, racking up a clear one-lap advantage.
In the Just for Fun category the Ride On team just managed to keep one step ahead of The Police to take the win, as the Kent Police, complete with Police crocodile, which they hoped would intimidate the competition especially in the river, chased them down had to settle for second.
The toughest battle of the event had to be the 24 hr Solos, with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius, the testing course was made that bit harder both with the heat and the depth and breadth of competition as each competitor was pushing hard for the finish.
James Leavesley had Iain Payne and Craig Bowles snapping eagerly at his heels the entire event, eventually he managed to eke-out an advantage, finally taking the win with 31 laps under is belt. Payne took second place just 20 minutes down while Craig did a sterling job to secure third.
Leavesley's Iron Horse team mate Josh Ibbett took another top podium spot for his team as he rode a strong race to take the win in the Torchbearer's 12h Solo, while Szabolcs Bandi & Gerald Tudor had a close battle for 2nd, with Bandi just taking the edge.
Finally it was a welcome return to winning ways for Pete Turnbull, partnered with Jonny Stenson in the Torchbearer's pairs. After over six months in Australia, Turnbull is back in the UK and keen to get back into the swing of UK racing after showing his Oz compatriots how it should be done Team Cheese (Martin Silvester and Paul Williams) obviously melted in the hot weather and the fondue pairing took second.
And so it was that the third edition of the Bontrager Twentyfour 12 was finally over and not a drop of rain had fallen - a complete revelation as there have only been a handful of 'dry' enduros over the last 3 or 4 years! It was a welcome change for both the riders and the supporters (and the photographers too!).
It was a fantastic event, in a fantastic venue made all that more special by some blistering hot sunshine, for once! As riders milled around waiting for the podiums, the buzz was what a great weekend it had been, the course rode like a dream and for some they even went out for a quick spin after the race, just for one more time as it was so much fun!
Thanks to Martyn and his hardworking crew for putting on such a refreshingly relaxed event and thanks too to Quaver Catering for keeping those ice cold slush drinks topped all day long, a real life saver!!
Lets hope that next year they can book the same venue complete with the same weather, for more fun and frolics in the park. I for one can't wait!
Selected Images
Check out the galleries on British Cycling for tons more images from a scorcher in Newnham Park.
Above: Jenny Copnall at the head of the field at the start
Above: The man himself - Keith Bontrager takes time out from being an MTB component guru to be there in person for the event
Above: Hot sun and a few hundred hungry competitors get ready for a dig
Above left and right: Two examples of the frightening effects of 24 hour racing
Above: The Forestry Commission were on hand to add an extra dimension of 'technical challenge'
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