The wind howled and the rain poured but the riders just kept ripping it up at this year’s annual Fat Face urban downhill held in Scarborough last weekend.
Though the event was smaller than last years which was held in Edinburgh and despite wind and rain spectators turned up in their hundreds lining the course top to bottom on both sides to will the riders on.
The course this year was super quick and very short. The riders started at the castle rolling down next to it before speeding down a set of steps up to a ninety degree corner where they proceeded to jump or roll a 9ft tabletop jump depending upon how brave they were feeling.
There was a small chicane up to another tabletop, they then had to negotiate a slick and very slippery tarmac path speeding down this they could either take the small kicker or roll up onto a higher stepped path. After that relatively tight right turn onto a flat section to get your speed up, after this came the first tight 180 turn down onto very muddy path. A few short seconds later riders had to slam on the brakes for another this time left handed 180 turn and yet again another set of steps.
Riders were being very careful on the final turn onto a small wooden bridge and drop off. In all a super quick track that flowed well, however given the truly treacherous riding conditions riders had to be careful. Too fast and you risked washing out or crashing badly as happened to a couple of riders at the bottom and top of the track.
The riders I had the opportunity to speak to were mostly enjoying the track, but not the weather. Despite the gruelling push up to the top of the track, most of them were enjoying the flowing track and commenting on the design, especially in terms of how it could be ridden. The only thing they weren’t too happy with was the kicker near the top of the track, as it was just too risky to ride given the conditions.
The racing became increasingly aggressive as the night wore on pushing both themselves and the bikes far past what was safe given the slick as ice conditions. Fuelled by the spectator’s cheers and massive enthusiasm, many were styling it up (albeit very tentatively) on the tabletop to huge cheers from the crowds and some somewhat unusual comments from the commentator.
Some of the riders were getting a little too zesty at the top resulting in some pretty bad crashes. Will Longden also went down very hard at the bottom of the course, resulting in a trip to the med tent luckily only some bruising was incurred. Despite the crashes the other riders weren’t holding back. The hard tail category especially who were just pushing it and showing up many of the guys on the dh bikes.
As far as the competitors go, some of the big teams were in attendance including Chain Reaction cycles on their oh so nice blue intense bikes, the Santa Cruz Syndicate were there also, as were Hope Tech, Orange racing and the now infamous Millyard Racing on that mysterious MK2 bike.
Both the pros and amateur racers though were ripping it up to the crowds delight as the dj pumped out some Prodigy the true night race got into the flow of things. It kicked off with riders choosing some very sketchy lines at the castle, nearly knocking down the odd photographer myself included. Ripping it over the tabletops and drop off at the end of the track.
The final results are as follows; note that due to weather at this point getting really bad, racing after 10pm had to sadly be cancelled and results were based upon seeding runs instead.
Juvenile Category: 1st Fraser McGlone; 2nd Billy Matthews; 3rd Isaac Anderson
Youth category: 1st Leiws Buchanan; 2nd Tom Knight; 3rd Jamie Kirk
Junior category: 1st Harry Molloy; 2nd Daniel Fietsch; 3rd Huw Oliver
Senior Men: 1st Richard Batey; 2nd Daniel Mainprize; 3rd Seb Frost
Master Men: 1st Mark Milward,; 2nd Nigel Page; 3rd Jayson Cavill
Veteran men: 1st Mark White; 2nd Wayne Dowkes-White, 3rd Greg Taylor
Expert men: 1st Billy Cheetham, 2nd Will Rowlands; 3rd Alex Bond
Elite Men: 1st Dan Stanbridge; 2nd James Hughes; 3rd Neil Donoghue
Elite Women: Elite: 1st; Tracy Moseley; 2nd Helen Gaskell; 3rd Katy Curd
None elite women: 1st Emma Wareham; 2nd Lynda Davies; 3rd Sue Mahony
Hardtail Category: 1st Adam Carr; 2nd Lewis Lacey; 3rd Lloyd Clarkson
All in all it was a great day, given the weather there were not many trade booths that were staying, props to you guys who did. But the atmosphere remained pretty good throughout the day. By the night race the entire track on both sides was packed with spectators.
Many whom I spoke to had never seen a downhill race before let alone an urban one and were in awe of some of the stuff the riders were doing. Urban races are always great things as they really do open up the sport to others. To the point though the racers were excellent as was the atmosphere and the track. If the rain and wind hadn’t been so bad it would have been superb, but nothings perfect.
Fat face had also done a pretty good job with organisation despite the fact the track was still being put together in the early hours of Saturday morning, they tried their best to keep everything on time. Also props to Fat face that were supplying free food, drink and access to the party afterwards, for all the riders; photographers and journalists.
Overall then great day out and I cant wait till next years, id like to also say a big thanks to Rachel Anning from Fat Face who was fantastic and a big help both before the race and during it as well. Chris Roberts event organiser who despite looking pretty stressed took the time out to give us a run down of the course. Also all the riders who took the time out either on the push back up or just after their runs to speak to me. Finally Clive (ckflip), who was acting as a second photographer for the day.
