WDMBA Gethin: Report!

The second round of the WDMBA series at Gethin Woodlands has now been and gone, and if you weren’t there you missed out! The hot weather continued, giving us a ridiculously dry dusty track, and some super high speed. It was the same as the good old days of the Dragon Downhill series, apart from a freshly sculpted sweet new bermy section just before the infamous rock garden. Credit must go to Shaun Bevan of Back on Track for that, as he did it in two days and it was a definite improvement over what was there before.

Video from our very own Paul Roberts:

With a turn out of about 160 riders, the track never felt busy and queuing for uplift was fairly minimal. There were three buses on, providing some luxury ‘80s style transport to the top with comfortable seating for riders, and good bicycle stackage up in the back with foam to put between bikes to keep damage to a minimum. Slackers were easily managing 5-6 runs, whilst those a bit more on the case could squeeze in a couple more.

The big news of the weekend was that Animal-Commencal’s Dan Atherton would be making the trip down from North Wales to sample some of the valleys finery, and his first impressions were that the track looked amazing. Surprisingly he’d not been in the days of Dragon Downhill, so this was his first visit to Gethin. There were plenty of other riders who had been Dragon regulars though, and it was awesome to go back for old times’ sake, after a 3 year hiatus there’s no doubt Gethin is a welcome return to the race calendar.

After a full day of practice on Saturday, racing got under way on Sunday after most people’d had time to fit in at least 2 runs to get their lines finally dialled and ready to rip it up.

Hardtail only saw two entrants this weekend, so in second was Ash Brown, with Ash Evans taking the win with a very respectable time of 3.16. Considering how hard-packed and dusty it was, that’s well good… must’ve been dead rough through the rock garden. Big respect to those guys.

In Juvenile, George Lynch was third, Kyle Havard took second and Obi Eichhorn took the win with a time of 3.35.

Youth men saw only three riders go sub-3: Callum Havard in third, Tom Owens second and Mike Jones took the win with a 2.53.

In Juniors, third placed Grant Boyce obviously had a bit of an error in his second run, but his first run time was good enough to net him a spot on the podium. Moss Macriner went faster in second runs, moving himself up to second, and Jay Williamson posted 2.54 on both runs, consistency rewarded with top step on the podium.

Seniors saw a bit of a shake up after second runs, with Gregory Hampton moving from fifth to third, Alex Moss posting a much quicker time than his first run to rocket from eleventh to second and Rob Williams taking the win by almost 6 seconds with a time of 2.52.

It was only the top three men in Masters who went sub-3 and they were, in third Tom Smith. In second was digger driver extraordinaire Shaun Bevan who DNF’d his second run, meaning he slipped from first position when Dan Haines posted a faster second run time to take the win with a 2.56.

Vets had a well good turn out with 14 riders fighting for the top positions. In the end it was John Cobb in third, Niall Ingram in second and Rich Simpson in first.

There were only three women competitors this weekend, all from different categories, so Emily Horridge, Sarah Jane Hewitt and Harriet Jones all won with ease, and in the overall, it was Emily first, SJ second and Harriet third. Hopefully as the series gains popularity a few more ladies will come along to sample some of the finest tracks South Wales has to offer in a really awesome laid back no-pressure situation… doooo it girls! You wont regret it!

Expert men saw Nikki Whiles in third, Joel Moore in second and Will Soffe in first, posting the second fastest time of the day in the process. Good work Will!

In Elite there were 3 riders all on 2.47 it was that close a race. Jack Geoghegan was unable to better his first run time, so took third behind Rowan Sorrell, but it was Dan Atherton who stomped his way to the win with a time of 2.44, fastest time of the day.

Final impressions: go do the WDMBA races! Considering this was only their second race, organisation was pretty spot on. The race ran pretty much on time, and well.. couldn’t really fault it. The organisers are super sound, and are ready to listen to constructive criticism although its doubtful there’ll be too much of that – the race was so good. When world level riders like Dan turn up and comment that the standard of riding is better than at a national and are super psyched on the track, you know you’re onto a winner. Next round is 9-10 July at Mountain Ash. Get on it!

Words: Emily Horridge
BIG thanks Laurence Webb for the photos, check out his RootsandRain page!

If you liked this post why not check out these?

1. WDMBA Gethin: Video
2. Aston Hill Black Run report
3. WDMBA Rheola NPS Practice Day