For the final event of the series we headed out west, crossing the border into the old Copeland region of Cumbria. The area has a very strong mining heritage noted by the many small villages and disused railways that criss-cross the area. Central to the map was the converted Rowrah to Whitehaven C2C railway line giving riders something to think about. With limited access to the line, careful planning was needed. All of this gave you a mix of small lanes, urban navigation, cycleways and hills to test you but, with no obvious route choice, many riders found it difficult to optimise their point scoring potential. Tom Gibbs had no such difficulty though and wrapped up the series with his third straight win. Fiona Wright although beaten on the night by a resurgent Kate Charles on her home patch, had accrued enough points to take the Women’s title. Dave Cowgill, having ‘lost’ his partner for the night, took the Mixed team award along with Claire Riley. Ray Morriss, on his first full season with ABC won the EBike Class, and for the first time in a few years we had a Generation team with Jessica and James Moore taking home a prize each.

The Series standing have been emailed out. Let me know if you need a copy.

Sadly we had two riders who used the out of bounds route through the quarries between controls #15 and #20. This off-road route was deliberately obscured with labels on the map and, as it states on the map, “white roads are out of bounds” anyway. Rather than disqualify, for a first offence, we deducted the value of #20 from their scores. There was also a report of an unknown rider using the footpath between #10 & #16. Please behave! You know who you are!

Prize vouchers were very generously provided by Palace Cycles of Carlisle. I am sure that you will be able to find some go faster goodies to spend your vouchers on. Mike is very supportive of the ABC challenge so if you are passing, and have time to have a look in, please let him know that you are one of our riders.

I hope that you enjoy sampling the taste of a local brew, Tractor Shed from Seaton. I think that most people went home with a spot prize of a bottle or two under their arms. Enjoy!

The Countryman at Lamplugh was a new venue for the ABC. With very generous food portions, we noted that many opted for the small portions having seen the size of the dishes, and a massive car park it provided the ideal venue for the presentation. We were made to feel very welcome as we were at Gilcrux village hall, Watchree Nature Reserve, Hundith Hill Hotel and The Boot & Shoe Inn. As organisers we would like to thank all of the establishments for their hospitality and we hope that many of you will revisit them at a more leisurely pace in the future.

We hope that you all enjoyed your rides this year. We tried to varied the style and terrain for each event as well as take you to some new areas and new venues. Finally we will end up with what must have been one of the most scenic control locations used this year.

See you in 2026. Tony & Angela