Gorrick Sagem 100 Enduro
Swinley Forest: 30/04/06
By Paul Howard.
Swinley Forest was the venue for the Gorrick Sagem 100 Enduro. It's called a challenge, not a race, but stick numbers on your bike and shout "Go" and everyone still treats it like a race. Especially a lot of the riders in the 2 and 3 lap events preparing for the NPS wanting to keep their effort short and sharp. This years course was 10 miles of Swinleys finest incorporating; The Full Nine Yards new berms and "orange singletrack", Seagull Woods tight and twisty track, a short but fun heavily bermed downhill off Surrey Hill and much more besides. Just think how good a 20 mile lap would be?
John and Chris really took the meaning of teamwork to heart. Not only did they pair up to ride the 7 lap race but they even shared Chris's Blur. So a short pitstop on completion of John's quick opening three laps was required for a change in seat height and pedals. And off he went in a blur (sorry, on a Blur). Sadly my race was thwarted by suffering all week with a cold which must have taken more out of me than I thought. All winter I've been fit and healthy and then it all goes tit's up before my favourite race of the year. Let's just say I was not in the best of moods afterward!! Still, I really enjoyed the three laps, before taking up cheering duties and bottle support for everyone else.
Dean leads Calum through the first lap
Dean and Calum also put teamwork to good use in the two lap event, team time trialling along the fireroads. Calums' good speed through the singletrack and out of the corners surprised Dean who wanted to find an opportunity to break away. A charge up a hill was enough to break the elastic and finish with a two minute gap in third place, Calum in seventh. Russell also made an appearance on the Cove Handjob singlespeed with a couple of quite respectable laps, considering he probably drives everywhere now rather than cycle! ;-)
In the 3 lap event Warrens head wasn't quite ready for the task at hand and he recalled the six P's after the race: Proper Planning Prevents P*** Poor Performance. A lack of energy drink and energy food led to him bonking at the start of the third lap, so he retired early.
So in summary an encouraging performance for some, and perhaps one to forget and move on for others.
Full results on Timelaps, Reports & photos on Gorrick
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Lap 5 Lap 6 Lap 7
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2 LAPS
3 2 01:37:13 04:05 DEAN MORGAN 0:48:14 0:48:59
7 2 01:39:33 06:25 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 0:48:15 0:51:18
44 2 02:13:20 40:12 RUSSELL ELY 1:02:36 1:10:44
3 LAPS
95 2 01:48:16 WARREN BATES 0:53:04 0:55:12 -
7 LAPS
53 6 05:58:17 JOHN NEWPORT 0:56:27 0:57:37 1:02:58
& CHRIS WHITE 0:58:37 1:00:27 1:02:11 -
68 3 02:50:43 PAUL HOWARD 0:52:23 0:55:53 1:02:27 - - - -
Photo courtesy of Mike Keynes.