A full-house entry of 78 riders, including an encouraging 11 females, took part in the Limitless Cycles fun enduro based at Ballaspit farm, St John’s on Sunday.
A new venue for this discipline of mountain biking, the event was hosted by Manx MTB Enduro.
Three stages had been set out for the pedal bikes, with an additional one for the e-bikes containing some big climbs to test riders and machines to their full.
The e-bikers started their timed runs with the uphill ‘power’ stage that was littered with loose rocks and wet grass.
All managed to get through with a bit of pushing and shoving, then joined the rest of the field on the big climb up to stage one. This consisted of some fast descending, freshly-cut trail and a rocky route through an old ruin.
Factory Orange rider and top Dingbat, Isaac Batty, set the pace by a healthy margin of 13 seconds, followed by Niall McCanney and Harry Corrin.
Stage two involved some pedalling, hedge jumps and fast sections. Elliot Teece of the Laxey Circus had a cracking ride to win this by a narrow margin from Josh Kelly and a few tenths back was that man Batty.
Onto the final stage which started at the cairn, where there was a strong tail wind. Young Batty took this with a super-quick time of 2min 24sec, with McCanney again impressive some seven seconds behind. Rounding off the top three was Callum Christian of Limitless Cycles.
The overall fastest time of the day was Batty, followed by McCanney with his best result to date. It was great to see visiting rider Hunter McCrone of Scotland rounding off the podium.
In the grand veteran’s class, Dave ‘Dixie’ Griffin (riding for the Dingbats) recorded a comfortable victory over Phil Bell-Scott and Andrew Sidebottom.
The women's class was again won by young Sapphire Ascroft, posting two wins on the three stages. Runner-up was Coral Heginbotham, with Rebekkah Ringham third.
The men’s e-bike class was taken by Stephen ‘Bear’ Collins by a comfortable margin over Steven Teare. Another 12 seconds back, Chris Le Moignan took third place.
In the women's class, Saskia Kelly once again showed she was the one to beat. Such was her pace she would have placed third overall in the e-bikes. Young Kasey Corrin had a great ride to take second and Beckie Weimar third.
Manx MTB Enduro would like to thank the medical team, marshals, the setting-out crew, Thelma Corrin for the use of the land, Matt Ward for the timing and Limitless Cycles for the generous prizes.
Results at www.manxmtbenduro.com
Manx MTB Enduro’s next event is on Sunday, May 5.
ROBIN SIMPSON-GREEN