Event Details
Club: | BM MBO |
Event Name: | BMBO British Championships - The Wye Valley |
Date: | 25/06/22 |
Format: | MBO Score |
Mapping: | Ordnance Survey |
Time Limit: | 5 |
National League: | - |
League: | Black Mountains MBO (Round 7 of 10) |
Electronic Punch: | SportIdent |
Event Report
As I was riding the Devauden iO event last year I stopped to talk to a walker above Tintern, James had seen the other riders & as a keen mountain biker he was interested to know what was going on. We chatted about the event & as I was about to ride off, he added that if we were ever looking for a venue, he was sure his parents would be happy to host us on the nearby family farm. //
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//Later in the year Tony the Chairman asked if Black Mountain MBO would like to host the 2022 weekend event, so remembering the chance meeting in the Wye Valley the year before, I set out to see if I could find the James & the farm. It didn’t take me too long to find out he was from The Meads, so I called to see if anyone was around. John (James’ father) came to the door & after a quick introduction said, ‘Ah James did mention something about hosting a bike event’!//
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//The plan soon began to fall into place, with camping on the field, the ‘Old Granary’ would be converted into a pop-up bar & café & Sallie, (James’ mum) would do breakfast & post ride tea with the help of the local church. The area has been used quite a bit in the past, so I quickly decided on the areas for days 1 & 2, drafted the maps & applied for a permission to Natural Resources Wales who manage the extensive woodland in the area. //
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//The weekend rapidly approached in what was a very busy June, but with the field perfectly mown, tent up, tables out, bar stocked & signs in place we were ready to welcome campers on Friday afternoon. The controls were all out by early evening & we were all back in the bar having beer with the riders by 7pm, all ready to go.//
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//On Saturday morning & following a hearty breakfast, the riders started heading out on the 5 hour, 40 control point course from 9.30. The first day saw riders head north towards Monmouth, riding not only the trails & tracks in the extensive woodland on the west of the river, but also cross to the complex byway network on the English side. There were plenty of points on both sides, but anyone opting to cross would have to face a combined ascent of over 1000m! //
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//The forecast had been for showers all day, but apart from one heavy burst about lunch time at the event centre the sun was out. As the riders started to return I was surprised to here how many had completely missed the rain & those that didn't had been sheltered in the woods when a squally shower passed through. The results started to appear on the computer screen as the riders downloaded their SI cards & it all looked pretty tight at the top with Ifor Powell on 655, Ian Cartwright 630 & Nuno Cerqueira on 620. That is until Tom Gibbs rode in having gathered 38 of the 40 controls available & racking up 768 points wow! The top female riders were Nicky Griffin on 456, Val Ravenhill 420 & Carys Holloway 400, with the top mixed pair was Andrea & Steve Foster. Part 2 on the Day 2 page //
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//The full Results for day 1 are below.//
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