Mawddach Goldrush Challenge

Jack and me set out for deepest darkest Wales on Sunday to take part in quite a unique event, for a start it is organised by people who have nothing to do with MTB or cycling. But the Rotary club of Mawddach put on this event for its 2nd year and it was run and organised very efficiantly all day from signing on to putting on a bus for spectators, supplying bin bags for dirty washing and goody bags for all competitors.
The course was based around the old Red Bull route which i have "raced" before and havent really enjoyed it but whoever designed this course needs a pat on the back as it raced really well, there were some long stretches of fire road but that made sure all competitors were spaced well out and congestion on the technical bits did not exsist which was the major fault of other races there. All the fire roads led to grin inducing down hills or technical traverses along the side of the valley but saying that the fire roads were a blast as well, most of which pushed the speed up over 25mph and the last one hit nearly 35 mph if your dangly bits were big enough, oh yeah and as it was in Wales there was a bit of climbing involved, over 400m per lap which along with the weather (rain,sleet,hail,and sun) made for a very interesting race.
The start was interesting because when you signed on you were given a timing chip, this allowed you to start when you liked between 10- 10.30 am which meant you were really racing against the clock not the people, like an off road endurance timetrial and the winner is whoever records the fastest time.
My race went well both me and Jack ambled up to the start line about 10.05 and set off up the opening climb and that was the last i see of Jack as i seemed to have good legs and made my way through the early starters, it seemed strange to be in a race with no one to race against the only thing i could do was to concentrate on catching everyone i saw which went to plan for the rest of the race. Rob Oakes kept me company for a couple of laps which also kept the speed up and we were both at our limits on the climbs but as the last lap started i upped the pace a bit more on the first climb and Rob dropped back which gave me a boost because Rob got the better of me for much of last year in the Nationals so it was pleasing to see him dissapearing backwards and with only 4 weeks to the first 2009 National gives me an idea to the form im in.The rest of the lap hurt quite a bit as i tried to keep the pace high hoping that i could reach the finish before 2hrs 30, i knew last years winning time was 2 hrs 41 so to do it would put me high up the leader board, there was a few scary moments on the last rock strewn downhill as i pushed harder still but was rewarded with a time of 2hrs 29m 40s. Jack after nearly completeing 2 solid laps broke his chain on the last downhill (how???only Jack) and by the time he'd found the chain again was too cold to try and fix it to carry on so retreated to the cafe for coffee and CAKE !!.
I finished my race in 1st for my catagorie (30-39) i also recorded the fastest lap but was beaten into 2nd overall by elite racer Jonathon Pugh.
I would like to thank the organisers for a top day out, this event will continue to grow. In the first year it saw 60 competitors this year it was 200, it really is a different approach to racing with its less formal start and laid back approach. I for one will definately return next year.

full results here http://www.blacksheepsports.co.uk/public/results.aspx?raceid=698