The Highland Hardline organised by Allan Kenyon and the Black Isle Mountain Bike Club took place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September and saw the MTB community come together for a weekend of brilliant racing after a summer spent in lockdown.
Event organiser Allan Kenyon brings us his event report from the weekend:
"In the end it boiled down to two things – the weather. ‘Weather’ or not we would be allowed to run the race and would Golspie live up to its reputation of being the wettest race venue this side of an unseasonable wet equatorial rain forest…? 2019 – ‘Carnage Corner’ will live long in the memory of those present for being THE best crash magnet of all time… Seriously, if you don’t believe me, please treat yourself - have a look at the YouTube video of the race.
So, after an amazing amount of planning, preparation, negotiating and implementing strict Covid measures – the race was given the green light by all the relevant authorities and boy, what a weekend we had.
It turns out that our Friends at Golspie community council managed to book the sunniest September weekend in living memory for us – blazing sunshine from dawn to dusk, zero wind and, unbelievably, not a Midge is sight. What had we done to deserve this???
Due to Covid restrictions we had to shake up the format. Instead of having the Saturday as an ‘enmass’ practice day, then hosting all the racing and the podiums on the Sunday, the weekend was divided into junior and senior days.
Saturday morning (like Sunday) started with all racers and parents being Covid temperature checked on their way into the venue car park. The track was in perfect condition with George and Allan, yet again, using their twisted genius to produce a technically challenging and fun layout. Scott from Sender Ramps added extra spice to an already ‘hot’ track by creating another daunting ‘Sender’ drop – which was both loved and feared by all who raced.
For those of us lucky enough to ride Golspie fairly regularly, it surely must be one of the UK’s best venues. The Highland Hardline track is the cherry on the top of the tasty icing and, wow, all the amazingly talented kids devoured the treat and spat out the stone core.
Unbelievably, this was the first race to be held in Scotland since the Covid outbreak (and may also have been the last!) and, instead of having a lower than usual turnout, the race was booked out with well over 140 athletes travelling north (and 1 south!) to, finally, get on track.
With Matt and Ewan on the mics, as always torturing all those present and the poor patient residents of Golspie with more ‘stinking chat’ and dreadful jokes (we wouldn’t have it any other way), the racing began in earnest. But, before we come to that, we were in the presence of racing royalty. The ever-supportive local hero – Greg Williamson took time out of his precious pre-World Championships Training to practice with the kids and generally be the top bloke that he is. Obviously, as Greg is racing for TEAM UK at the World Championships, in Leogang, on 9-11th October – any credit for his success will probably be claimed by us due the practice runs he managed to squeeze in at Golspie! Before he left though – Greg set a time to beat of 1.30 dead. Could it be beaten over the weekend – even though it was set on an e-bike???? In all seriousness though – for someone of that calibre to give up their free time to support grass root racing – that is the mark of a true gentleman and we are extremely grateful for his generosity. He also now has 140+ more dedicated fans…
So, to racing. First up on Saturday were the U.10s. Rosie McLaughlan and Ollie Carn took the honours with Jessica Wipat and Sam Harrison doing the same in the under 12’s. Unbelievably, Sam posted a time of 1:44, fastest time of the day, before, unfortunately, suffering a nasty injury in a freak accident near the carpark area. If ever there was evidence for ALWAYS wearing a helmet – Sam is, literally, living proof. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing is ‘ever cheery’ face in 2021.
To reduce the potential for ‘pesky Covid’ to do its worst – ‘mini-podium’ celebrations were conducted at the end of each race category. This was advantageous for 2 reasons: 1 – it reduced the volume of people present therefore reducing infection risks and 2 – Ewan was able to recycle the same jokes several times over the 2 days (much to Matt’s dismay)!!!
So, to Sunday. Again, the track was just in brilliant condition and the racing was tense and hugely exciting.
In the U.14 – Creag Muir managed to snatch an amazing win by just 0.49 of a second in a field of 36 riders. Unfortunately, there were no u.14 female riders which is hugely disappointing. There are so many talented girls getting out on their bikes – it is criminal that so few feel empowered enough to come race. I think we need to get our collective thinking caps on to come up with ideas to redress this considerable imbalance…???
For many of us the ‘battles’ between Lewis Duncan and Andrew Georgeson have become somewhat legendary at H.H events these last 3 seasons. This year was no different in the u.16 category. After the first run Lewis had the edge but, disaster struck on his second run when Andrew slid out near the top – breaking his collar bone. Such is the measure of the man that, in considerable pain, he even managed to make his way down to the podium to congratulate Lewis. Again, we wish you a speedy recovery Andrew.
One massive success story in respect of female racing comes in the form of Aimi Kenyon who, yet again, tamed the track, won the u.16 category and posted fastest female rider of the weekend. This is in spite of having a monster off in practice.
Jodie Park was the sole u.18 female rider but still posted a very impressive time to claim all three steps on the podium. As always, her infectious smile could be seen as far away as New Zealand!
The u.18 males went down to the wire with Evan Macdonald edging out Cam Ravenhill who, like so many others, just over cooked his second run. Still – 100% credit to all who pushed SO hard on their race runs. The difference between success and ‘not-success’ (no F word here readers) is a fine, fine margin.
So, drum roll please. Remember that time of 1.30 posted by Greg Williamson on Saturday? Was it beaten by any of the athletes??? Well, no but ‘by Jove’ Lewis Duncan came tantalisingly close with the fastest time of the weekend. His final race run was a blistering 1.31.03 – a whisp over a second behind Greg’s time. For someone who just turned 15 this week – that was a stunning display of talent and commitment – just like that shown by every single racer who set off from first practice to the final race run over the whole weekend.
So that was it. Amazing racing, superb weather, no Covid cases reported and plenty of smiles…
Roll on 2021. Who knows what the world will look like come race time in April but, you can be reassured, the two ‘weathers’ will, undoubtedly, play a hugely important part in proceedings..."
A huge thank you to Allan and the team for delivering such a well organised event under difficult circumstances.
