Event Details
Club: | SMBO |
Event Name: | Yarrow Valley MBO |
Date: | 03/07/11 |
Format: | MBO Score |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 4 Hours |
National League: | MBO Score 2011 (Round 5 of 7 rounds (Best 4 count)) |
League: | SMBO Summer Series 2011 (Round 4 of ) |
Electronic Punch: | SportIdent |
Event Report
The Yarrowford SMBO event was our first ever attempt at organising an event, but being keen MBOers and with some amazing riding on our doorstep it seemed like a good idea when we volunteered on a post event high last year. It came as quite a surprise when our event was selected as part of a national league too – the pressure was on!
We spent the months before the event checking out the few tracks and trails we had never ridden, contacting landowners, learning how to use the Sport Ident software and the intricacies of making a map suitable for an MBO event. Andy McLennan, organiser of the first 3 SMBO events, gave us invaluable advice to keep us on the right track – thanks Andy!
The final few days found us out riding the trails we love putting out control points. It took two of us 8 hours, 65km and nearly 2000m of climbing each to lay the course so come the day of the event we were both quite happy to be staying behind at the event centre while every one else set out to explore our wonderful hills.
The day of the event dawned clear and warm, very warm as the day drew on. Our event centre was the Yarrowford village hall which is a fabulous Scandinavian bright red colour (the closest they could get to rust colour apparently!) and is set in a quiet deep valley surrounded by high rolling hills which contain challenging climbs and descents that have you grinning for hours after you finish your ride. In glorious sunshine we set up ready for all the competitors to arrive. After a busy morning everything quietened down as by 11am all the competitors had set out onto the course and we were able to draw breath and sit out and enjoy the sunshine while preparing for everyone’s return.
All too soon exhausted but smiling competitors began to race through the finish. The general consensus was that it was a challenging course not made any easier by the relentless sun but the amazing views and awesome descents made up for it. Several people had to resort to dusting off their compass in order to navigate out of Bowhill Forest (aka The Rabbit Warren), one competitor had to resort to using his teeth to bite out a piece of inner tube to repair a ripped tyre wall and another limped back having patched himself up after “the crash of his life”. Fortunately our enthusiastic first aider was on hand to help clean him up. A quote that stood out was “Why wouldn’t anyone enjoy this, it’s a guided tour of some of the best riding in the country!”
Congratulations to Keith and Lynne Brydon who won the mixed pairs with 308 points, James Daplyn and Paul Ryan who won the male pairs with 289 points, Jonathan Ellis who won the male solo’s with 357 points, Rosemary Byde who won the female solo’s with 305 points and finally Jack and Nicholas Williamson who won the generation team with 190 points.
Thank you to Andy for all his advice and support and to all the landowners for allowing us to use their land as well as the village hall committee who provided much needed bacon butties and yummy cake. Also a big thank you to our sponsors Alpine Bikes and High5 nutrition for providing great prizes and freebies and finally to all those who collected in control points – my legs are very grateful!