14th Annual Onabike Cup - 23rd December 2007 - Avill Ball

Britain longest established downhill race is the Onabike Cup. First contested in 1994 when it was won by Steve Kitchen now of Animal fame! This year's event is sponsored by Cloud Cover Instant Shelters and Nike 6.0. Part of the Nike Killing It series. The Rider of the Day wins a Killing it Certificate and loads and loads and loads of Nike goodies! Back in 1994 the course started with a flat 300m pedalling section out through open moorland before joining into the part of the Ashcombe Estate that we now use. The race finished indoors in the barn with a hay-bale chicane as you entered which caught Onabike Cup out many very tired riders. The bikes have changed over the years . Back in 1994 only 4 riders turned up on full suspension bikes; as they were a real novelty back then; winner Steve Kitchen was one of those, onboard a Mongoose Amplifier. The race has been held at Ashcombe every year and was originally a one off downhill race. Many people were sceptical that we could get anyone to enter a downhill only race when for a similar entry fee you could race all around the estate and cycle uphill aswell! The doubters were wrong and a field of around 140 riders were hand timed by rally stop watches and the times then manually worked out! The race was a success and more downhill races followed and in 1996 the Onabike Cup was the final round of the South West downhill series; our last race of the year. It is still our last race of the year and has been the Christmas race at Ashcombe for the last six years; but as Ashcombe is now too busy to accommodate us at Christmas the event has a new home Avill Ball near Dunster. Defending Champion Ashley Mullane, the only man to win the Cup 3 times is among the favourites to retain the Cup, but with the like of UCI Junior World Cup Champion Josh Bryceland already on the entry list his work will be cut out. The Full list of winners is 1994 Steve Kitchen 1995 Stefan Gleed 1996 Ollie Thomas 1997 Andy Barron 1998 Rich Warner 1999 Symon Folland 2000 Symon Folland 2001 Dan Atherton 2002 Gee Atherton 2003 Tom Tuckey 2004 Ashley Mullane 2005 Ashley Mullane 2006 Ashley Mullane 2007 ??????? Event details are at www.dm27.com