 If the
event had been a week earlier, there would have been 6 inch of snow to
contend with, not to mention the metre deep drifts. It no doubt would
have been cancelled but some gentle thawing through the week reduced
the snow to an acceptable level. When I was up putting out control 30
on Wild Board Fell on Friday, I did wonder who on earth would be
intrepid enough to go up there on Sunday, but it must have been worth
it as 10 or so people made the climb to 560 metres above sea level and
coped with the snow covering. To see some spectacular pictures of snow
at a MTBO event, checkout Liam's
pics took
up at Aberfoyle only a week previous....
 The entry
of 100 was full for Ravenstonedale over a week before the event.
Apologies to all those that sadly had to be turned away. Contrast this
to the entries of 63 and 76 that we had at Gleaston and Whinfell and
you can appreciate how difficult it is to know what to expect. So with
the snow, the cold wind and the mud, Ravenstonedale was to be a
hardcore Winter TQ. The results produced some surprises, the national
champ Andy Conn
was pipped into 3rd by a very competent 16 year old, John Eccles and
the overall win was from class C, not the usual A.
 The winners took a route which set off to the north of the
map in a clockwise loop. It was a mean climb up from the bridge in the
bottom of Smardale, but in general the points were easier to come by
than heading south. Heading West towards Smardale bridge has to rate as
one of the best descents in the area and you can gain most of your
height from the main road up Ash Fell. But the south west of the map
also featured a good route heading SW past Adamthwaite farm towards
Cautley beck. The track over Wild Board Fell is quite good quality as
it has been recently done up as part of the Transpennine Trail, but the
recent frost had loosened up the surface meaning it was very draggy and
slow progress. As for the hill down into Mallerstang valley, skis would
be the best form of transport.... The area provided a rich selection of
tracks, there were only a mere 5 out of the total 30 controls that
could be reached on tarmac.
 The food
laid on afterwards by the school PTA was a splendid feast, fit for
kings. Warm homemade soup being the ideal recharge on a cold day. Many
thanks must go to Alison and the ladies who provided this spread. The
proceeds from the Trailquest will be given to school funds and
understandably so. The school worked well as a venue, and a central
start point meant that riders departed in all directions. Ray Morriss
the organiser did a very good event to say it was his first. I hope he
will consider doing one again once he has a rest. Ken Shepherd was on
hand through the day helping out with car parking, start / finish and
he even managed to find 3 out of the 5 controls he was sent to collect
in. Martin Barnes again ran the SI kit and has done us proud all
series. A huge thanks to Ray, Ken, Rachel Slattery, John Rawden, Bruce
Barnes and PA for doing the messy task of collecting controls in
afterwards. Finally, Steve and Alison from Raven Graphics
for doing a
lot of work behind the scenes to help the event be a success.
 The
league is now over for this Winter and interestingly the winners of
classes A and C were won by riders who only came to the last 3 events
in the series. They posted 3 good results and it was close, but their
efforts were good enough to out do the consistent performances of
Anthony Rowland (last years class A champion) and Mike Hayward. It's
always tricky knowing what classes to have for the ladies as the
appearances at events can be varied and the numbers always low. At
Ravenstonedale, they all got put into one class D. But for the
championship, class B was very close, Jo Ratcliffe taking the win from
Rachel Slattery and class D was won by the consistently good Anne
Plant. The full league final results for those people who did at least
3 events can be found here.
We must thank Chain
Reaction Cycles for doing us a good deal on the league prize
vouchers, that was very kind of them. It was nice to be giving out
Kendal Mintcake for everyone who came to the last event, courtesy of Romney's. Plus the
kindness and generosity of a few local businesses, namely:
Askew
Cycles,
Kendal 728057
MBR Office Solutions
James
Cropper PLC
Speciality Papermakers
There is still an XCC TQ series this year and in June
starts the Lanequests, keep
checking back as the venues for 2006 will be finalised in the near
future.
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