Big Picture | Isle of Man & The Poker Stars Manx 2 Day Enduro
When it comes to enduro and trail riding the Isle of Man (50k long 20k wide) situated out between Liverpool and Ireland is pretty much an unknown entity, other than that of XC riding, where it’s ‘End to End’ race can attract up to 1500 competitors on an annual basis. Famous for its TT motorcycle race, known as the most dangerous road race on the planet and pulling over 40,000 spectators per year, this place is rich in racing heritage. It’s not part of the UK and has it’s own Manx government, and they run things a bit differently. So when asked by the organizers of their first big two day enduro race to come over and check it out, our UK editor Jim didn’t hesitate to head on out there with a van full of mates and racers alike.
I had been over to this island three times previous, but never for mountain biking, this was during my years of dirt bikes and engines, as I chose to watch the TT and ride the massive lattice-work of off road trails on the island.
As time goes on and wealthy non-islanders have moved over there the dirt bikes have become less popular, pushing the growth of our eco friendly sport. Although the island has stacks of open xc type trails the addition of more enduro-style techy trails have only really appeared in the last six months!
This is where our host Al Heginbotham comes into play, him and a big group of like-minded mates have got to work on carving out stacks of amazing trails in and amongst the many plantations dotted about the islands hillside.
These guys are knocking trails up with military efficiency and pace, where they have taken the best bits from their travels over here to the UK’s races and used ingredients from the best ones to make some of the most fantastic challenging trails I have ever ridden.
They seem to have mixed the tech and flow of the Red Kite event or an Irish round, the speed challenging transitions of the Tweedlove EWS and atmosphere of a grass roots race like a Mini-Enduro to come up with what can only be described as one the most challenging and satisfying weekend’s racing.
Having come straight from the UK’s Ard’ Rock event this was a total opposite to their open fast rocky moorland, but just as much fun and even more of a challenge.
We came over as a five day break on the ferry from Liverpool, my van with four people costing £250 (€355) although a foot passenger with bike is £40 (€56) After a 2 ½ hour crossing we drove on the island straight into their main town of Douglas, to be treated by glorious sunshine every day of our trip.
A short ten minute drive and we were over at our host Al’s pad for the stay, the Manx countryside really reminding me of the more beautiful parts of North Wales.
Things that immediately strike you about the island are that the locals have a weird accent, a kind of amalgamation of Manchester, Liverpool and Yorkshire and they really cannot do enough for you! They have an amazing relaxed attitude, reminding me of how things once were 35 years ago as a kid in the UK, when there was a massive element of trust, respect and people worked hard for their crust.
The island is a bit of a tax haven too, so many houses are places you could only dream of owning and there seems to be elements of big boys toys and hobbies just situated everywhere you go, it would seem no self respecting Manx person would be without some hands-on hobby to occupy their time, hence why enduro racing and bigger travel trail bikes are fast becoming a very popular sport on the island.
Al, like lots of the islanders, owns a trials bike and now into MTB he uses it a tool to scope out new tracks on the island, stating how they have literally just scraped the surface of what is possible over there in the form of amazing trails. He took us about in his van on the Thursday and Friday to show us what they had been working on, shuttling us up some of the big climbs on the various plantations, all of which were within riding distance for the race weekend.
The whole time there we were just blown away by how peaceful the island is, there seems to be lots of room for folk, no rush hour traffic, less stress and an abundance of land. As we arrive at the first trail there is noone around and Al is tentative as to our reaction to his trails, stating “hit the berms flat out, they will hold you in!”
With no uphill warm-up we hit the trail, pinned and within five corners I knew these guys knew how to build trails. The berms were scary-fast g-out bike holders, the loam was soft and invited the biggest of drifts and there were no shitty bike stopping ridiculously tight corners to be found, we had found our track heaven!
As the afternoon went on we visited four of the ten stages planned over the two days racing and all were just as good as each other, even the pedally one was still fun!
After an evening of bike maintenance and lovely food we hit the rest of the trails the following day, all six, some shuttled, some transitioned and things just got better, they seemed to get more and more testing as the day went on, this being where the similarity to EWS and Red Kite came into play, we were just loving it, all four of us, Doose, Lee, Isac and myself just brimming with excitement for the following day’s race.
Friday night’s feast, cooked up by big Lee was a big one, as we prepped for what we thought could be a big day in the saddle, little did we know just how big it was going to be!
Saturday was a late start with a 1pm kick-off, prior to this we got the briefing from the organizers, Rob the copper, Steve the bear and team very efficient in getting us all set up for the off. We headed out I groups of fifteen with our timing dibbers and under instruction that we had about 4 ¾ hours to complete it, ‘shouldn’t be that hard’ I thought!
The sun was still blazing and the climbs were tough, real tough, at the top of the first transition (an hour in) we knew it was going to be far from easy!
Stage 1 saw me over the bars right next to where Al was watching, then my chain got chucked off, looped around itself, damaging my Di2 mech and loosing me 1 ½ minutes.
We all had an amazing but extremely hard day, all crashing out in various places, it was definably one of those races where you could make mistakes then make up for it though.
The day went on and I had hit mental highs on the stages and real lows pushing and pedaling up some of the toughest of transitions I had ever encountered.
At around the stage 3 mark I could have sworn there would be no way we could have done it all again the following day. We finished off in the small arena, me down in 7th Vet, Doose 1st Master and 3rd overall, Lee 2nd Senior and Isac 1st Junior, I did feel a little like I had let the team down, but stoked just to get through it.
Another massive feast, bike wash and tyre change, as the tracks had dried out from Friday evening’s rain and we were back at it for the final day, apprehensive of what lay ahead. The first climb (although not the toughest) was a real killer, shutting us all up, but surprisingly as the day went on it all got easier. I think because we knew we were doing all of these 1300ms of climbing of the 40k circuit for the last time then psychologically it just wasn’t as tough, although it was pretty fucking far from easy!
We finished off, tired and weary but just so happy, Doose and Isac had retained their positions, Lee had dropped down one position and I had scraped myself back up to 4th. The winner by a massive margin was local DH fast boy Jim Marshall. Visiting Factory Orange’s Dan Greenwood was comfortably in 2nd overall before knocking himself out cold on the last 100mts of the last stage. 2nd overall and top Vet was Paul Kneen, Ian Brookfield was top Senior, Rob Cormode was top Grand Vet and Julie Lyness was top Woman.
We were treated to 2 days racing, 80k and 2600mts climbing, some of the best trails, plus a free burger, T-shirt and plenty of cold beers at the end, all for an amazing £50 (€71). We met some of the friendliest keenest riders out there with the best hospitality, that left us all feeling humbled at the end of our trip. So if you want an event that is a real challenge and definitely a bit different, then check them out.
Full Results – Here
Website – www.manxmtbenduro.com
Words | Jim Buchanan
Pics | Isac Paddock, Jim Buchanan