Fat Tyre Navigator
Summer Series 2005: Round 1 June 12th, Hogs Back
The Hogs Back Brewery played host to a near perfect day of biking, warm sunshine and a cool breeze making a pleasant contrast to last Aprils rain lashed affair from the same venue.The good conditions brought out the crowds with nearly 200 riders taking part, in spite of a crowded MTB calendar across the country this weekend. There was a good atmosphere around the brewery courtyard, helped along perhaps by the armfuls of supplies that many of the more 'committed athletes' were bringing back from the brewery shop!
The Hogs Back course is one of the most complex and challenging on the Navigator circuit and the bewildering route choices and sand trap areas made it tough day out for many. Not for Nick Calkin (allparts auto) though, who carried his form over from his course clearance at the Wight Diamond to clean up again here. He spent the day dueling with the mens team of Matt Kemp and Mike Davies, literally leapfrogging checkpoints with one another. Both achieved clearances but Nick stole the victory by 61 seconds.
Rick Fetherston (Mosquito Bikes) placed third overall and took Single Men, but was pushed close by Jason Robinson who had an excellent day out on home turf to score 650 points.
Annie Marson was top woman on the day after Iwona Szmyd (Mosquito Bikes) came in late and lost out on penalties. Nick Dean incurred five minutes worth of penalties too, but still took the Super Vets win, while Graham Hughes and Steve Fairman won Vets Team and Guy Exley and Victoria Suponitsky took Mixed Team.
At the foot of the results table, big penalty points hinted at the complexity of the course. Our old friend Patrick O' Halloran "got more lost than I have ever been" and knowing Pat as well as we do, that would be pretty spectacularly lost! The usually competent team of Keith Seston and Anu Lappalainen incurred a huge 180 penalty points, but star of the day had to be Jon Menzies who came in with 290 penalties - and a bag of shopping from the supermarket.
Round two of the summer series moves further up the North Downs to Ockley; tricky navigating once again, but some fantastic riding!
Before then, if you fancy a more leisurely visit to the Hogs Back, join us for Return of the Hog on Wed. 22nd June for a superb marked out evening ride followed by a bowl of chilli and optional 'mini' brewery tours and beer sampling.
Click here to book the next Summer Series events | Book Return of the Hog
Bramley Navigator Results
Categories (Summary)
|
|
