Gorrick Spring Series – Round 2 Tunnel Hill – The Valentine Special!

“Well dear I thought for this Valentines Day we could pop over to the woods for a few hours and get a bit dirty….”

And so the first Gorrick Spring Series finally got underway at last and now With Tunnel Hill temporarily renamed The Tunnel of Love, riders were again in for a singletrack love fest as a perfectly crafted 5 mile circuit complete with a romantic interlude, plus plenty of the famous ‘Gorrick’ swoops and descents, balanced with a couple of killer stings in the tail lay in wait. Another perfect day out for well over 550 riders was in store that not even a quick smattering of snow could deter! On the dot of 9am it was soon time to get the XC racing under way and pride of place to cutting up the trails went to the youth riders followed by the juveniles, while the uber keen under12’s & under 10’s waited patiently to get stuck into a shortened version of the big course. Matthew Lewis made short work of his two laps in the snow taking the first win of the day in the youth class, whilst Gretel Warner romped away with the win in the juvenile girls race. Then it was a steady conveyor belt of perfectly timed races, as one category after another were unleashed, as one batch finished another were already underway painting the trails with brightly coloured garb that fleeting looked as if spring had arrived early and certainly cheered up the drab winter colours! Just in case proceedings weren’t colourful enough and the sprinkling of unforecast snow not delivering the right amount of romance, the thoughtful Gorrick crew had kindly set out plethora of red balloons and heart festooned ribbons and a canoe…. All as a homage to Valentines Day, and so ‘Canoe – daling Corner’ was born!

As each race unfolded it was soon clear that along with plenty of old faces there was a considerable showing of new faces along with a new tempo. After a winter of enduro races these riders were keen to quicken the pace and shorten the distance ready for the new season of XC racing. Many of the categories were taken to the line with everything to play for as competitors dug deep looking for their racing legs that for some had been well buried over the winter!

If you’d like to read the rest of this report click on the Gorrick button above.

All photos now online, see you at the next Gorrick!