Event Details
Club: | West Coast MTB |
Event Name: | Cockermouth MBO Score & Bike O |
Date: | 08/02/15 |
Format: | MBO Score |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 3hr |
National League: | - |
League: | West Coast MTB Winter League 2014/2015 (Round 3 of 4) |
Electronic Punch: | SportIdent |
Event Report
Cockermouth MBO Score and Bike O
Many thanks for turning out on this misty damp morning to explore the lanes and bridleways of Cockermouth. Unfortunately the ‘getting brighter later’ forecast did not really happen.
This event seemed to be jinxed from the very outset. It was intended to be a forest based event but firstly the contractors decided to move in and start felling Whinlatter and then it seems that we were ‘outbid’ for use of Grizedale. A change of plan was needed.
Our Wednesday night Allerdale Bike Challenge regularly gets around 60 riders turning out to do a road based event. It was decided that it would be a good idea to encourage some of these riders to have a go at a longer event and possible go off road as well, and also to show the regulars a different aspect of the sport. So the idea of a combined Bike O and MBO Score event was born. The area lent itself to having a number of common controls with a further 10 controls unique to both each individual course. In terms of planning it required only a little more time to prepare two maps and a few extra controls in the field.
An unexpected twist occurred when the Cyclewise academy who were ‘without forest’ at the moment and were looking for alternative activities contacted me about how suitable the event would be for juniors. With a three hour event the controls were too widely spaced for juniors but by selecting a small portion of the area and adding the MBO Score and Bike O controls to the same map a suitable challenge was created. Thus it came to be that there were three courses instead of the usual one.
I estimated that the Bike O was about 50 miles and would take about 3 ½ hours to clear. Rob Stein managed to collect 18 of the 25 controls to take the honours.
On the cyclewise academy course young Dylan Owens scored an amazing 160 points showing some adults the way to do it.
The MBO Score area was deliberately large to make riders think about which controls to go for rather than to simply sweep the area. Going from the comments received before and after the event this proved to be the case. The off road controls were loosely grouped in three areas and I reckoned that the winners would need to clear at least two of the areas. In the end Chris Hope managed to claim all bar one of the off road controls as well as most of the remaining controls to amass 456 points. This was despite having to lose time whilst his partner, Bob Glaister, fixed a number of punctures! Having run out of tubes Bob finally gave up allowing Chris to continue on his own. I heard no other reports of breakdowns or punctures. Time to invest in some slime Bob!
Full results and splits time are on the BMBO website.
Well done to all and many thanks for turning up as well as all of the positive and encouraging comments that were received.
Regarding the next event Joolz Cooper reported that he did not know where or when it would be but assured us that the details would soon appear on the BMBO website! Rumour has it that it is likely to be on the 15th March in the Bassenthwaite area.
Tony Brand-Barker
Event Results
Results: | Download |
Club Website: | Unavailable |