Gorrick 100 Enduro

With the sun shining and miles of dusty singletrack the Gorrick 100 Enduro would be a fantastic day out on the bike. Its always enjoyable to return to the Gorrick events, unfortunately I don’t get the chance to race many of these, however with no Houffalize World Cup on the schedule it meant there was an open weekend. With my desire to race more marathon races this year the Gorrick 100 fitted perfectly and the full 7 laps distance would be my target.

On the start line there was a mix of elite cross country cyclists and several successful endurance mountain bikers included last years 7 lap winner Rory Hitchins. 10 minutes after the start a lead group of 3 had formed including Ian Leitch, Phil Lenney, and myself. On lap 2 Ian increased the pace and his efforts were too much for Phil to follow and he dropped behind. Ian continued at a pace that would be impossible to sustain for the whole 100km marathon so I tried to save energy by following wheels and keeping myself hidden from the wind. There were 3 main climbs all within the first third of the lap, and on the third lap heading into the first of those climbs I gapped Ian. I was sure that he’d catch back on once we reached the next 2 climbs but over the remainder of that lap the gap only increased.

With another 4 laps to complete it would have been nice to have had some company but the excellent Gorrick trails and shouts of support kept me focused. Over those remaining laps I kept a consistent pace with my lap times staying within 2 minutes of each other and built a lead ahead of second of 20 minutes! Well done to Ian and Phil who finished second and third. Im now a happy owner of a rather large trophy, thanks Gorrick!

Fresh after 70 miles of racing!

The TORQ Performance team took several wins and podium finishes across the various race distances, and I won the full 7 lap marathon distance. That was my 4th marathon victory in a row, next marathon race is the UCI S1 classified stage race AlpenTour Trophy in Austria.

Results for today’s race can be found here http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/Gorrick%20Exposure%201000%20Results.pdf

Thanks to Mum for being on bottle duty!