Mud Sweat & Gears Rd3 Haughty Park, 20 Jun 2021

On a wet and rather muddy day, I was gridded at the back (again) of a 45 strong field of what looked like rather fit and dedicated MTB racers. After the heavy rain we have had only the most dedicated turn up to race and to be confronted by an ice rink of a course, containing several large lake type puddles that had to be ridden through. By 2pm and the start of my race over 500 riders had turned the course in to a mud fest, with wet muddy roots being my potential nemesis (lack of confidence and grip on corners has always plagued me).

With the warning of two chicanes creating a bottle neck and accidents at the start, I decided to take off slowly and let those in front of me spread out before I picked up the pace and started passing slower riders. By the end of the first lap I found myself in a group of riders that I regularly competed against in 2019. As I gained confidence in the mud and started increasing my speed though corners and technical sections I was able to pass the riders around me and started chasing those ahead. As the laps ticked by my confidence grew and riders were dispatched and gapped, so by lap 6 I had moved up from 45th to 24th and realised that with a better gridding and faster start I could be up there in the top 20, not bad as my division is now an age range from 18 - 60 and so I am racing riders a lot younger than myself.

I came up to the finish on lap 6 thinking my last lap effort was well worth it as there was no one in sight behind me, the only problem was there was 2min 40secs left on the clock and I would have to do a 7th lap! I had drunk all of my bottle and given it everything on the 6th lap so the last lap was tough as I kept pushing the pace. I still finished over 40sec in front of the next guy, with the guy in 23rd a further 30 secs in front of me, so on analysis 24th was the best I could have achieved from that grid position.

I should be gridded closer to the front at the next race and will endeavour to give it some beans at the start to attain a better position when the field thins out and I am able to push the pace.

All in all a great race, muddy and wet but thoroughly enjoyable. The two hours of cleaning my bike after the race wasn’t as enjoyable though!

Andy Fountain