Hopetech Women's Enduro

Gisburn forest hosted another PMBA Enduro race. But this was no ordinary enduro race. This was also organised by Hopetech and the twist was only women were allowed to enter. So many enduro races are male-dominated, but not this weekend at Gisburn. The whole idea behind this race was to attract as many women in the mountain biking scene to get entered and ride with like-minded female friends, mothers and daughters. Where better to host a race like this but at Gisburn, with the added bonus of a new trail "Long Way Down" being used for the first time.


Gisburn is a superb mountain bike trail centre in the north of England that forms one of the super 6. Gisburn, Grizedale, Hamsterley, Kielder, Chopwell and Whinlatter. All are purpose-built mountain biking trail centres that are normally created and built by groups of volunteers. The trails used for this race were not overly technical, and mostly well built and maintained, so completely accessible to novice racers. The only factor that could have so ruined the party was the weather. With biblical rainfall leading up to the event and flooded roads heading towards the forest, this could have been a disaster of a race. But of the 250 women signed up, only a tiny amount dropped out. Nothing could break the spirits of the women who had signed up!




According to Roots and Rain of the 222 racers who turned up, 81 had never raced before. This was exactly the sort of statistics that the PMBA and Hopetech women's enduro wanted to see. A race with unprecedented numbers of newcomers to racing. It's also got to be the most significant women's only race of the year, beating the Foxhunt earlier this month. Different types of race, but for an inaugural race, very impressive to say the least.


This race consisted of an approximate 10-mile circuit with three timed sections with downhill style stages. The morning was about signing on then getting out onto the trails and practising. The afternoon was about putting that practice into racing. The PMBA races tend to be a slightly more relaxed race, giving riders the chance to ride around with mates, unlike some enduro races where you have timed transitions and penalties if you miss these transition times.



The 3 timed stages would have been familiar to those that have ridden Gisburn, or even raced there previously. Stage one was Home Baked, the first volunteer-built trail in the forest and seen in the pictures above. Stage 2 was from the forest high point at Whelpstone Cragg, the first half of the stage following the traditional red route before blasting into the brand new volunteer trail "The Long Way Down". Three years in build and opened to the public the following day. Finally, stage 3 was the fast and flowing Hope line, how could it not be for the Hopetech women enduro.



The support around the forest and in particular the stages was something to note. With groups of riders and supporters gathered at all of the stages the cheers and heckles could be heard far and wide. This really provided a superb atmosphere and was really key to the electrifying support for the riders and race as a whole.

 


The overall race was won by Annie Last in a blistering time of 6:05.36 and closely followed by Bex Baraona +0:11.29, Martha Gill took 3rd place in the elite +0:23.25 behind the leader. However, look more closely into the results and you'll see young Polly Henderson taking the actual 3rd fastest time of the day in a brilliant 6:26.95, Polly is certainly one to keep your eye for in the future. For a full rundown of the results you can head over to roots and rain here.


So the inaugural Hopetech Women's enduro has been and gone. Everywhere you look on social media within the mountain biking community you can see pictures of the women riding and giving high praise to the organisers Hopetech, thanks to Rachel Walker and PMBA enduro series thanks to Kev Duckworth. They both put on an epic day racing with a fantastic team behind them, that would include, marshals, medics, timing guys and caterers to name but a few. All you can hear from the riders that took on the challenge is "I can't wait for next year", and for those that missed out or who couldn't make it "I can't wait to try this one out next year". One thing is for sure, if this doesn't happen next year, there will be a riot!

For more information and pictures head over to the PMBA FaceBook page here or head over to the Hopetech Women FaceBook page here.

For more on results and photos head over to roots and rain here.



One of the stand out moments from this race was this little whippersnapper. Leah is 11 years old and normally rides around locally to her on a £100 supermarket bike. She entered the race, got a free demo bike loaned from Juliana, a high spec extra small Furtado CC no less. First time at a trail centre, first time on a proper bike. She was a solid mid-pack finisher (152/222)- got a spot prize, finishers medal and was a very happy girl

Race report: Jerry Tatton
Photos: Jerry Tatton (JWDT Photography) 

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MENTIONS: @hopetech

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