With Richard’s words flying across the social media ether 2014 was starting out with a “rush” of entries. With 16 riders in the 100 mile event 2012 was to be the last time the original point to point route was to be run.Īfter quite a lot of arm twisting and persuasion, Nigel had relented during the year and 2013 was the first time a 100km event was run with 5 riders entered. Needless to say, the read in Privateer was enjoyable, with beautiful pictures and heartfelt writing. Climbing big hills and flying down the other side.” Riding a mountain bike across big wild landscapes. He wrote a fantastic article in privateer (now sadly no more, but the awesome Cranked has taken up the gap) and this is from his personal blog – “on the last weekend of July I travelled to the Isle of Man for my first ever visit and to complete in a little-known race, The Manx 100. 100 miles and 15,000 ft of climbing. Not a trail centre to be seen. Whilst it’s impossible to define what mountain biking riding and racing “is”, this ride and race epitomised what I personally love about the activity. Just this one man and his awesome article in said magazine, made a massive change to the whole event and really it can be said that without Richard turning up, having a great time and enthusing to all of his compatriots we probably wouldn’t be where we are today.
A quick set of messages, some telephone calls and over he came, with the promise of an article in Privateer. The enthusiasm that these 6 had for the event and of course, the fact that there was only a 50% completion rate meant that Nigel realised the event was possible of the right stature for what he wanted – the hardest single point to point mountain bike race in the UK.ĭuring the remaining part of 2012 and into 2013 Nigel stalked other events in the UK and “discovered” what we now know as a Cycling legend – Richard Rothwell. 6 finished, the last taking 14 hours to complete the route, finishing at the Sound, the Southern most point on the Isle of Man. 11 riders turned up at the point of Ayre (the northern most point on the Island) and headed south. A GPX route and 100 arrows was thought to be sufficient.
Guy was more interested in competing so it was left with Nigel to organise. The route had been put together on a kitchen table with beer and probably a take out between Nigel and Guy.
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