Plean Country Park
13th January 2002
With 32 starters on the day, the turn out for the event was superb. Iain Nimmo hadn't expected so many people to turn up and when the helpers turned up in the rain, it looked like the whole thing was going to turn damp! After Pete Cartwright and Iain Nimmo marked the course out, Richard Barton managed to get the easy-up up (not as easy at it looked!), the rain stopped and a slightly cool breeze was blowing. The signing on staff and other marshalls all turned up and by the time everything had been looked out, racers had started to turn up and get some practice laps done. The online entry form did help - the 17 riders that used the facility simply had to sign the form and pay their entry fee, but they only covered just over half the entries. Practice laps were all underway and it became very clear that the racers were enjoying the lap - due to the rain the mud had softened slightly but overall the lap was very fast which meant a lot of people were caught with their feet disengaged when it came to the off. Iain Nimmo's mum did a superb job with the Soup and Richard Barton's mum disappeared only to return with some upmarket nibbles...with helpers like these, it's no wonder the racers want more of them!!! The Park Staff were incredibly helpful throughout the day and at the end of it asked for more dates to be sorted out as they had enjoyed the event and also enjoyed the idea of more people coming to the Park. The upshot of this enthusiasm is that the club is putting together a Volunteer TRail Crew to work with the Park staff to create some new trails within the Park boundary for use by MTBers. This also means that Plean Country Park will become a more regular haunt for racers and riders alike! Pictures, Reports and Results are all available, simple choose the link you wish to follow - Pictures - got a couple bu the majority are still being sorted out!
Reports - Crispin Bennett's first ever CX race, Race Report
Results Thanks to our local Halfords who kindly donated some kid's helmets as prizes. Martin Steele also gets a huge thanks as he provided some beer for spot prizes and judging from the cheers, it would appear everyone was after some beer! Later this year the local Halfords will be getting a makeover and turned into BikeHut, this means they will hve more stock and a much bigger range of kit. This range will include all the big names in biking e.g. Hope, Shimano, WTB, etc.
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