Dirty Sixty Fiver
Gravel Grinder
Gravel-bike racing is a relatively new race discipline in
the UK,
but one which is taking off in a big way. Essentially, these mass-start events
are run over mixed terrain that take in anything and everything from country
lanes to technical single track. They tend to be point-to-point or large-loop
affairs and rarely (if ever) follow a multi-lap format. For those familiar with
more traditional cycle-competition, they lie somewhere between road-based
sportives and MTB endurance events.
Now, Steve is a long-time and experienced cycle racer but
because of a well-documented aversion to getting his bikes dirty has generally
steered clear of off-road competition. Indeed, the last time he was ‘persuaded’
to race off road (five or so years ago in the English national championship
duathlon) the results were mentally scarring; as per the pic.
However, inspired by his (dirt-loving) brother to try
something a little different, on 13th April Steve dipped his toe in
the gravel-grinding water and took on the shortest version of the
Kielder-forest based Dirty Reiver
series of races. Organisers had put on a choice of 200, 130 or 65 kilometre
variants of the race but if there’s one thing Steve hates more than getting
filthy, it’s a suffer-fest… so the shorty it was always going to be.
Approximately 1,500 racers mass-started the various variants
and in spite of most of the race being run over reasonably straightforward
loose-gravel forest trails, competitors were subject to constant, incessant,
will-this-ever-end type of leg-sapping inclines, invariably followed by
sometimes truly hair-raising will-I-actually-get-out-of-this-without-crashing
type of descents. Indeed, over the full 65 kilometres that Steve encountered,
he reports the flat bits ran to more or less zero metres.
Cutting a (65K) long story short, Steve stayed upright,
paced the race well and finished in 2:23:44 both exhausted, and truly full of
admiration and incomprehension at the endurance-capabilities of those
continuing in the 130 and 200K versions. In terms of position, no one - he
reports - was more surprised to find that his was the quickest time of the day
in the 65K event resulting in an event-winning 1/135 finish overall.
Jon Z
Helmsley
multi-terrain 10K
Jon continues to bewilder his medical consultants and
recently competed for his 8th time at the annual Helmsley
multi-terrain 10K - an event where dodging the worst of the usually-muddy (and
sometimes cow-pat infested) underfoot conditions can mean the difference
between good progress and an ‘entertaining’ energy-sapper of a race. Luckily,
the 2019 iteration was run off in warm and dry conditions that went some way to
offsetting the difficulty of the nagging up-and-down nature of the course. Jon
is now well into the 65-69 age group but he seems to forget he should be
slowing down and his finish time of 56.24 was his best since way back in 2013.
The time was also good enough for a 176/358 position overall and - by a margin
of only 48 seconds - a 2/7 in age.
Ormesby Hall 10K
Last Saturday Jon continued his good form setting his
course-best time of 25:55 at the Tees Barrage parkrun where he was also fastest
in age.
Where most people would - after a hard 5K race - conventionally
rest; lest we forget that Jon is the most prolific full iron man distance
triathlete amongst us, the following day he ran for his 6th time at this
month's free
10k trail race at Ormesby Hall - another challenging 10K trail-based affair
that requires a good bit more mental effort and technical ability than your
average road-based event. In spite of most of the ground being firm there were still
significant sections of mud and Jon himself describes the course as ‘tough’ -
we’ll therefore take it as read that it’s a proper zinger. In spite of the
muddy bits - and perhaps more significantly, the parkrun course best of the
previous day - Jon racked up yet another top-form performance finishing in
55:14, only a few seconds short of his previous course best of 55:08 set last
August.
It more tan bears repeating that Jon’s resilience in the
face of his numerous medical issues is inspirational and his performances
beggar belief.
