Thinking of taking on a mountain bike marathon event? Want to make a weekend of it and enjoy the festival atmosphere of the riding community? Our supported riders Jane and Peter Squires recently took part in the Hope MTB Marathon in Ruthin, North Wales. Here’s Jane’s report from the weekend.
September was the final round of the Hope MTB Marathon Series in Ruthin, North Wales, a beautiful place to ride your bike!
Saturday evening was the night ride which saw 30 or so riders heading out into the hills for a few hours while everyone else either had an early night or hit the bar for a couple of drinks and a catch up.
Sunday morning and the rain came down! It had rained earlier in the week so the ground was pretty soggy to begin with. You could see everyone having the debate about what to wear and what to take in case the rain fell again. However just in time the rain stopped and about 300 riders headed off behind the event truck to start the main event. Spirits were high until the first hill was reached and what a gruelling start that was! It certainly split the field with the faster riders climbing with ease and getting a good lead. Peter was taking on the full marathon, a distance of 70k and 2300m of climbing and I was doing the half, 51k and 1772m of climbing. The course was fantastic with long draggy climbs, fast fireroad descents and some very steep techy climbs and descents mixed in. We were both going really well and feeling strong, able to ride everything that was thrown at us, the preceding few weeks training paying off.
However it was all to change! On a steep slippy concrete descent Peter’s bike went from under him and he hit the ground hard, very hard! The damage looked very bad and not what I expected or wanted to see coming round the same corner half an hour later! Following in-situ treatment from the event medics and paramedics he was whisked to A&E at Chester hospital via emergency ambulance where a crash team was waiting. The result, a dislocated and broken wrist and a broken hip together with severe bruising all down the right side but thankfully no head trauma. They operated the following morning to pin the hip and plate the wrist.
We could not count the number of riders who stopped and offered assistance and those who gave up their chance of a good result to stay until Peter was in safe medical hands, our heartfelt thanks go out to those people. All the emergency services were fantastic and the support and help from the MTB Marathon Series team and fellow riders towards us both is something we are really grateful for. The mountain bike community rallying round to support its own when needed!
Later analysis shows we both had Personal Records on nearly all the segments compared with 1 year ago which was a good takeaway.
Peter is now home and on the road to recovery, doing as well as can be expected, although it will be some time before he’s back on a bike.
Find out more about the Hope MTB Marathon Series here. Thank you to MTB Marathon Series for the photos. Check out their Facebook and Instagram channels.
