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Merida Brass Monkeys R3 – Race Report - The Tropical One!

by Joolze Dymond, 03 Feb 10. Results [ 1» ] Photos [ 1» ]

Well after the first two rounds where weather was a prominent part of the series, how could round 3 be any different! Round 1 saw a monsoon type deluge but without the warmth, while round 2 saw temperatures dip into serious minus figures. So of course with all these extremes the 3rd one just had to be tropical, didn't it? We could but hope!

In the end we had to settle for another cold one which befits a winter series I guess. Just to throw a bit of variation on a theme we even had an ever so light sprinkling of snow early in the morning, so this has to be the white one!

Entry was once again high, with plenty of newcomers eager to try their legs out on a course that last saw any racing way back in the depths of the early 90's. Parkhurst Hill is where everyone converged and by 11am the trails were thronged with hundreds of riders suddenly realising why this one was also known as the tough one! Over the 7 mile sinuous course, which boasted miles of slick ribbons of singletrack, that descended and kicked, flicking through woods and over plateaus, before dumping you at the base of steady fire roads that climbed steadily, so you could do all the descending again and again! It was a merry little roller coaster ride, which just happened to include a 1000-foot of climbing each lap.

Despite the biting cold and the tough climbs, riders were ablaze with praise for the course, well after they'd finished, had a coffee and warmed up! As the series finale, the racing was going to be even closer as there was the little matter of the overall series wins to secure along the way to the day's podium placings. After the first rounds devastating effect on both man and machine, there was plenty to play for in many of the categories.

Ben Thomas had a near race long ding dong battle with
Steve James until Steve's legs went bang!.
Photo by Joolze

In the 4hr race, Ben Thomas and Steve James soon moved clear of the leading group and so their race was set, with each rider locked in a constant synergy of pace, lap after lap. It looked as if this would come down to a thrilling sprint finish. However, despite a mechanical, which gave James the advantage, Thomas soon moved back into position. With just half a lap left, youngster James blew, leaving Thomas to secure his second win of the series. A disastrous 1st round left Thomas out of the running for the overall leaving Ant White trying hard to keep his hopes of the overall series win alive. Four punctures quickly sapped away his confidence as well as his will to continue, but the experienced enduro rider kept plugging away to finally finish in 7th spot, enough to secure the overall win.

In the Veterans 4hr it was another new face that took the win, James D'Arcy, leaving the fight play out behind for those all important points for the series. Once again Colin Smith was eager to keep rival Paul Howard as far behind him as he could manage. Howard suffering from cramp was unable to respond and despite pushing hard was thwarted to the series by Smith.

Youngster Ben Hawker airs it off the steps in Bunker Buster followed by Mountain Trax teammate Paul Howard who finished second overall in the Veterans 4hr series.
Photo by Joolze

Viv Hazelton underlined her series victory with another win in the Veteran women's 4hr romping away with 5 strong laps to her name. The women's 4hr saw World-class marathon rider, Sally Bigham, make the journey north to try her hand at a Brass Monkey. The classy rider soon left the rest of her rivals behind and she also made short work of a few of the men, with a time that would have placed her 8th. Jo Munden knew she was up against a classy rider and just got on with the task of riding her own race, delivering a second spot that would underline her dominance of the series overall.

In the 2 hour race, Maxine Filby was happy to take control of the race, taking her first win of the series, while in contrast Sam Jones eager to secure the overall win had a nightmare of a race with mechanical troubles hampering her entire race. Persevering she finally finished in an uncharacteristic 10th spot, after 3 excruciating laps. Fortunately she'd done enough to grab the top spot overall. Over the course of her 2hr race, Veteran Lydia Gould kept Maxine Filby company, with the two women crossing the line virtually side by side, each winning their respective categories, but with Gould taking the overall series win with her 2nd win.

Torq rider Lydia Gould achieved her second Brass Monkeys
race win and the overall 2hr Veterans series.
Photo by Joolze

Despite nearly losing an ear in pursuit of the win in round 2 of the series, Scott Forbes was on hand again to see if he had enough to take the overall. With a 3 week break due to injuries sustained at that race when rider/tree interface proved a little unforgiving, Forbes wasn't looking for a win, just enough points. As the race unfolded George Budd and Forbes were locked in near mortal combat. In the closing stages of the race it soon became clear that 3 weeks off the bike was beginning to tell and Budd took full advantage, kicking on the final climb, losing contact with the Pedal On rider, screeching home to take the win just 28 secs ahead of Forbes who, with 2 wins and now a second could happily take claim to the overall series.

Scott Forbes puts the hurt into eventual 2hr winner George Budd.
Photo by Joolze

Despite a fast start, leading the men's 2hr Veterans race for the first lap, series leader Dean Morgan soon found himself fighting for survival as Daran Blackwell and Rick Fetherston overwhelmed him and took the fight forward between them. Four laps later and Blackwell had legged it to the finishing line to take the win. 49 secs later Fetherston came home for 2nd with Morgan consoling himself with 3rd, knowing he'd done enough for the series.

And so a classic has been born! See you next year for more of the same… I wonder what delights the weather will throw at us then? See you there!

Dean Morgan won the 2hr Veterans series and here leads
Darran Blackwell along Slash and Shake.
Photo by Joolze

Rider Thoughts:

Scott Forbes – 2hr series winner

New this year was the Brass Monkey series based around the Aldershot area and held on MOD land. There were two main races; the 2-hour and the 4-hour run on an enduro format. Mass start and checker flagged after the allotted time. It's a strange time of year and the series fell over the end of last season and the start of this one so I thought that a little bit of Christmas racing would help keep my eye in, what I wasn't expecting was how tough it would be.

Thinking back to the first race sends shivers down my spine. England at its glorious best. One of the wettest races I have ever done and with the combination of biblical amounts of rain and copious sand it combined to become the slayer of all things metal. I have yet to meet anyone who did that race and didn't go through a complete set of brake pads.

I opted for the 2-hour event. I have a family to think about and being washed away is not an option. Throughout the series I have been amazed at the effort the 4 hour riders have done and feel jealous that I'm not a member of that hardcore club but on that day I was very glad that I could be changed and on my way home before they even started their last lap. A tough day was rewarded with a win and one very broken bike.

So onto race two where the rain had been replaced by bitter cold and a very frozen track. Word had got out about these events and the start line of the two-hour race didn't look too dissimilar to a National Championship race. The course itself this time had been set in a more weatherproof environment and combined with the frozen ground it was going to be a fast one. I had managed a good few weeks of decent training and knew the first hill from the start would set the tone for the rest of the race. Myself, George Budd, Paul Hopkins and Christopher Rathbone all stayed as a tight group for the first half lap but with so many back markers it was really important to get to the head of the group. I put my head down and pulled a gap. It is much easier to make progress as an individual rider than as a group sometimes and with a fair amount of singletrack I knew I could hold my advantage.

Right up to the point I hit a tree. Well I should explain. I was trying to get past a back marker and a little bit of confusion existed over "right and left" and the result was a head on impact at pace into a very solid bit of timber. I can remember hitting the tree then it all went black for a bit. I came round and made a dizzy lunge for the bike only to be confronted by a scarlet splattering from the right side of my head, but due to the cold it was hard to feel how bad the injury was. Never one to give in I leapt back on and used the adrenaline buzz to blitz the next couple of laps and get win 2 of the series. The blood didn't really stop and by the end the bike was looking more red than its normal blue. The medics at the race were great and after a fair amount of prodding they suggested it was best to go to casualty and I quote "get my ear sown back on again". Oh dear God how bad was it? I still hadn't had a look at it yet but when the medic uses phrases like that it is time to get to hospital. Six stitches, a small skin graft and a head full of drugs later I was patched up but my days of ear modeling were over.

So today for round 3 we headed to another very cold race at Parkhurst Hill and were introduced to the best course of the series so far. Each seven mile lap was made up of wide dragging climbs and sharp technical descents. It was one of the most fun laps I have ridden in the area and look forward to future events there. Unsure as to my form as I have just come back from a 3 week lay off with no training I knew George Budd was on form and keen for a win. Again another strong turn out for the 2 hour event it was going to be fast but this time I was not going to destroy the bike or myself. A lap in and George and I had pulled a couple of minutes out of the chasing pack and with a small buffer we could really get into our rhythm.

We swapped the lead a number of times but neither of us could drop the other guy. Then as we started our final lap I could feel the lack of recent training and knew George was the stronger of us that day. I bluffed a bit and put a dig in only to have that matched and handed back with interest as all I could do was watch Mr. Budd drift off into the race winning distance. A hard day but good fun and a decent end to a fantastic series and with the second today I tied up the series too.

Over the dark and cold days of winter it is hard to find the motivation to get out there and ride but the Brass Monkey series has added a little competitive spark to what is normally a quiet time of year. Bring on next winter and another series; only next time can it be a little bit warmer please?

George Budd – 2hr race winner

With the first two rounds being very competitive, I was looking forward to using R3 as a good judge of form as we approach NPS R1 at the end of March. I had assumed I'd be racing for second, with Scott doing his usual disappearing act, but things turned out a bit differently today. I had pre-ridden the course on the previous day with Ben Thomas. It was a hillier lap than R1 and R2, with 900ft of climbing per lap according to the Garmin. The descents were really fun, nice and fast and flowing. Just the type of course I like! None of this scary rocky nonsense.

Soon after the start, a lead group of 4 or 5 riders had formed including Scott, Luke Smith, Paul Hopkins and myself. About 2/3 of the way round the lap, Scott and I managed to drop the other guys on one of the many hills and we never saw them again. Scott and I stayed nailed together for 3 1/2 laps, which I was really pleased about as Scott had beaten me convincingly at R1 and R2. On the last hill, Scott faded back a bit so I went for it and beasted the last bit of the lap to win by around 30secs or so. It later turned out that Scott had had 3 weeks off after the last race, so wasn't on top form today. Just goes to show how fast that man is - him on a bad day is the same as me on a good day.

I ended up with 2nd overall in the Series, behind Scott, and a collection of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies. The series itself was a good first go at a winter enduro series from the Gorrick / Army team. Overall, I'm really happy to have done the series and it was great to race at different venues for a change - I'll be back in 2010/2011 for Brass Monkeys Take 2 for sure.

Samantha Jones – 2hr series winner

I knew today was going to be tough having pre-ridden the course on Saturday, and hoped that come race day I could get round mechanical and incident free. How wrong I was on both fronts.

I got a good start only to be taken out about 700 metres from the start line by another rider locking bars with me. I tried to stay upright but was going too fast to recover the bike. I landed on my drive chain side and it soon became apparent that all was not well. By the time I hit the first main climb my chain had slipped over the top of my cassette and was stuck next to my spokes! Coming into the pits I tightened up my rear mech (thanks for the tool Andy). Laps 2 and 3 were hard going and I really lost my rhythm, but the course was great - hats off to course designer Simon Panter. I've really enjoyed the series and riding some new well thought out courses, so thanks to all who organised and ran the events and I look forward to the next series.

Maxine Filby – 2hr race winner

Round 3 of the Merida Brass Monkeys series brought us to a new venue, Parkhurst hill, Tweseldown. This is an area I'm quite familiar with as just up the road from the course is Tweseldown Racecourse. When I was racing horses instead of bikes I rode my first winner there. In fact I've never had a ride out of the top 4 at the course so I was hoping that some of the old Tweseldown luck would rub off on my mountain biking.

The day didn't start well as half way there my car began to fall apart, luckily I met a very nice lorry driver who couldn't speak a word of English but was very good at tie wrapping broken bits onto cars. It meant I arrived a little later than planned so didn't get the best warm up. I managed to get quite near the front of the start line as I remembered from the last round it was a little hairy at the beginning with the sheer amount of riders. My first lap was a little frustrating as I kept catching people on the single track only for them to pass me on the fire roads. As usual I managed a spectacular dismount, coming down a grassy hill I was just thinking how brilliant it was to be out whizzing around on my mountain bike rather than stuck inside on my rollers, when - bang - my bike and I were whizzing down the hill separately. I quickly jumped up and took a quick look at my poor bike, no major damage apart from a wonky saddle. I decided that it would just have to stay wonky and continued, albeit a little more carefully.

The course was fantastic; a real mix of everything, climbs, technical downhills and generally good fun bits! About 10 minutes from the end I was caught by the Vet rider Lydia Gould. We had a quick discussion if we'd seen any other girls from our respective categories and we worked out we were in front. We decided to ride in together. The one thing that I really enjoy about mountain biking is the friends I had made. Even though we were pushing ourselves and racing we still managed a quick catch up on the gossip. I know, I couldn't have been trying hard enough if I could still speak! I finished first in my category, after the disaster of last week at Thetford I was just pleased to get over the finish line. It was a brilliant day and I hope Gorrick run more races round that venue. I can't wait until the start of the spring series now.

Dean Morgan – Veteran 2hr series winner

Tweseldown was going to be fun, I was really looking forward to getting to grips with the trails over there as I'd heard loads about the venue but never actually ridden there. With 2 wins already under my belt in the series I knew all I had to do today was finish somewhere in the points and I should be okay for the overall win.

I had in my mind that I'd get a good start and then just ride safe, it was icy out there and a tad slippery! I felt good and soon had the lead. Daran was up with me and knew I was only really interested in the series win, so I just eased off the gas and let him get away. Rick came past me on the start of the 4th lap but I was happy to keep plodding along with the series win in my mind. Unfortunately the great plan of riding safe came a bit unstuck when a rogue tree stump caused a small dismount via the handlebars. I picked myself up and dusted myself down and carried on, taking it even easier.

In the end I secured 3rd on the day, but with enough points to bag the series, so target achieved and rewarded with an excellent trophy. The course certainly lived up to what I heard; it was great, draggy fire road climbs, mixed with excellent singletrack and not a sniff of rain!

Overall a brilliant series, well organized, we're really lucky to have such a wealth of terrain and eager people to put on excellent events. Roll on the next series of the Brass Monkeys, I can't wait!

Ant White – 4hr series winner

I only just got that. I can't believe that I had 4 punctures out there so I just had to persevere and be pretty quick with inner tubes! It's been a great series, very tough though especially dealing with all the wintry conditions its thrown at us and each round has been very very different. This round was nice and climby, the trails held up really well and the vibe was excellent. I think I came in around the top 5, which luckily was enough for the series! I thought to myself there are a few vets ahead and if I keep on going I'd get enough points to win he thing. After my second puncture I very nearly threw in the towel, but I kept on and it paid off.

Ben Thomas – 4hr race winner

Round 3 of the Brass Monkeys and the conclusion of a fantastic race series. Coming into this race I've just completed two of the biggest training weeks I've ever done back to back. Therefore I wasn't expecting the legs to be at their best. After a practice lap yesterday, and knowing that there would be some good competition, I was looking forward to 4 hours of pain! I was pretty motivated as this was my first race for the new TORQ Performance Team.

From the start I led the pack until we got to the first main climb where I let some of the other riders, including team mates Nick Collins and Tim Dunford, set the pace. Conditions were pretty tricky after a cold night, leaving big patches of ice on the race course. Tim had a comedy moment while setting the pace for the group that had already formed after half a lap, slipping out on the ice going up the climb almost all of us nearly ran him over!

From there three of us split from the group. Then, after maybe 3 laps, it was just Steven James and me out front. Steve's a good lad and super fast on the bike; we had a nice chat as we rode around despite the cheers from the sidelines that we should start racing and attack each other! Toward the end of the 5th lap I had bike problems allowing Steve to get a gap going into the penultimate lap. He claims he didn't realise I'd stopped but I'm sure he must have put the gas on as it hurt catching back up! During the 6th lap I could tell Steve was suffering as he wasn't so chatty and wasn't riding so fast on the climbs. Then unfortunately he went pop going into the last lap. It was a shame as we'd already agreed we would sprint it out in granny rings for a bit of comedy at the finish! Top work though by him - he's only a junior and was just completing a big base week - by beating a few elite riders.

That win for me finished off a successful series although unfortunately I failed to score at the first round after bike problems meaning I missed out on an overall category podium despite 2 wins out of 3. Si Panter, the Army Cycling Union and Gorrick have done a fantastic job. It was a shame about the conditions at round 1 but that couldn't be avoided, all 3 courses have been excellent, today's especially, well done to them. The big turnouts at each round, attracting some good elite riders including a world-class endurance mountain biker and an Olympic gold track medalist, and all the big smiles, is evidence of the good work they've done. I hope to be back next winter.

Sally Bigham – 4hr race winner

This is my first race of the season and all part of my training plan, but it seems a bit too early to be trying this hard as it's still winter! It was a brilliant race though the course was excellent, I really enjoyed it, it was so much fun, and even the climbs were enjoyable! Despite my normal racing schedule this didn't feel any easier, it was certainly a rude awakening for my legs!

World-class marathon rider Sally Bigham dominated the 4hr race.
Photo by Joolze

Post race refreshment was provided by For Goodness Shakes recovery drinks and Mule Bar - thanks for your support.
Photo by Joolze

"Last but not least, Jay, my chauffeur for the day!"
Photo by Joolze