Snowrun Enduro 26th February 2012
The Vess Report
Dodgy weather caused the 2012 Snowrun to be postponed for 3 weeks moving it from arctic to almost tropical conditions! At the start, the sun was shining, the birdies were singing, the bacon butties were well tasty, but as always was the lingering dread of the slots and roots that are always a major part of this classic event. And a couple of hundred yards of forest track from the start, in we went, paddling and pushing through the first of the ruts. WTRA had kindly put reasonable stretches of forest track between the snotty bits to enable riders to catch their breath. They had also set out a route without any real bottlenecks for riders to gather in, instead they created a free-flowing course, particularly when it came to going downhill. There were at least 3 downhill slots through the trees, one of which was particularly free-flowing - i.e. there was no stopping and you were going to get to the bottom one way or another whether you liked it or not, with or without the bike! The special test was nice. Not! Nothing horribly difficult, just horrible. A slippery, slithery paddle over roots, through slots and ruts - typical Snowrun!
Considering the full entry and number of laps (Sportsmen 2, Clubmen 3, Expert 4), the course did however stand up to the punishment surprisingly well, and I'm sure none of it actually had to be cut out, so well done WTRA, and many thanks for a thoroughly good and enjoyable event.
As for the riders from West Glos., Steve Biddle did his 4 expert laps on time, and I did my 3 Old fart laps on time, but alas, Mr Moore had spark plug gremlins on his Gasser and missed half the first lap, Dave Smailes holed the rad on his new Gasser which then got a bit too hot, Martin Howitt had a nightmare on the test on lap 2 and retired, and Steve Price boiled up the Husky and retired - hopefully without further damage, so collectively not a good day.
But me and Mr Biddle both got silvers in our classes so not all was lost!
Bob Mullins' report on enduronews is at enduronews.com Report