The weather couldn’t have been better in the lead-up to and throughout the PokerStars Two-Day mountain bike Enduro last weekend.

After last year’s wet conditions, the dry and dusty trails were perfect for the riders through all 10 stages.

With each day covering in excess of 25 miles and approximately 4,000 feet of climbing, it was a tough couple of days, rewarded by some fast, flowing and technical stages.

With a field made up of old and new faces, both local and from the UK, the event was set for an excellent showdown between top Manx and visiting riders.

The first stage in Kings Forest was the longest of the event and set the tone for the weekend. Jim Marshall beat Robbie Turner by three seconds to take a slender lead, with Nigel Beattie, Dan Greenwood (Orange Factory Racing) and Paul Buchanan battling for third covered by only 1.5 seconds.

The same riders continued to top stage times through the stages on day one with Rich Drinkwater setting some great times, as he has done all year, to also be in the mix at the top.

Dan Slack (Magura UK) was flying and clearly leading the junior category, but local rider Conor Gelling put in a storming ride on the last stage of the day to claw back time overall.

Despite some tired legs, everyone was raring to go on Sunday morning with a sharp climb up Slieau Whallian straight away to warm up.

Dust clouds were kicked up from the off with no let-up in the pace of the riders.

Marshall continued to extend his lead, putting eight seconds into the chasing pack with Beattie, Turner and Drinkwater separated by a mere 0.3 seconds close behind.

Through the following stages more close times were set with Beattie and Greenwood topping the splits on a couple. The top-10 riders traded places on each stage, separated by only a handful of seconds.

The final stage came down Witches’ Revenge in Slieau Whallian plantation, with cool refreshments provided at the finish line for everyone.

Marshall once again set a blistering pace on the steep descent with Slack six seconds behind and Greenwood, Drinkwater and Turner all finishing the stage within 0.6 seconds of one another in third, fourth and fifth.

Overall, Marshall took the victory in a time of 29min 44sec by a little under one minute from Beattie, who in turn was one second up on Turner. Drinkwater was fourth, with Greenwood fifth.

Class winners were: Under-19 - Dan Slack; Senior - Robbie Turner; Master - Jim Marshall; Veteran - Nigel Beattie; Grand Vets - Rob Cormode; Super Vets - Michael ’Skippy’ Shipsides; Womens - Saskia Baxter.

l Thanks to PokerStars for continuing to support the club’s flagship event, also all those who give up their time to set out and bring in the course, marshal, and provide first aid cover. Also to Bev for the excellent food, Ben for sorting the timing, and especially Stephen Collins who gives up so much of his time to make the events what they are.

l The next event is the Summit-to-Sea race from the top of Snaefell to the Shore Pub in Laxey on Sunday, August 19. Entries will open soon; keep an eye on the Manx MTB Enduro Facebook page for more information.

CHRIS WARD