Tue July 22

Pre entries now closed, we will take a few on the day in teams/pairs as there have been a few dropouts. Another scorching day, Shred Splitter section cleared today...this is the choice of route section, it offers two fast rooty downhills, one a bit shorter but twistier than the other. Forecast dry until saturday with a few showers then...nothing too 2006/2007 looking though...

Mon July 21 update

Final details have been emailed to all team captains and have been posted in the latest news section.

News from the venue is it's dry, in fact if it carries on like this we may even be worrying about dust, weather forecast can't seem to decide which way to go for the weekend. River crossing will catch a few out so we'll be buffing the bridge beside it tomorrow as i think it will get quite a bit of use...A few fallen trees to remove tomorrow and some more strimming to do. Course is in great nick and we really do think it will hold up well in the wet.

Well Keith Bontrager was in town to run the rule over the course. We had a few riders with him and managed to take some helmet cam footage and run the GPS over it.  We're not going to show you the whole course but the clips below give you the taste of two of the singletrack sections...Cottage Return and Bluebell Woods.

The two main climbs are both solid and will hold up real well in the wet with extra 1mile loop being the only bit we'd take out if things were looking soggy. There is one river crossing which has a walkable bridge by the side (no not the concrete one) so no need to get your feet wet if you don't want to. .

We ran a test event around two thirds of the course on and the feedback was very positive. Considering it had belted it down on the Wednesday/Thursday most of the course was pretty dry too...but it's not going to rain anyway...is it... apparently it will now....changes everyday..check this out http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/14days.asp?zipcode=pl7%205bn

We have booked a band for the Friday Night and plan more live music through different hours and parts of the event.

Thanks to For Goodness Shakes we will have a recovery zone with massage, foot spas and free recovery drinks.

An email update of the event will be sent to all Team Captain's this week. Entry lists are at http://www.xcracer.com/jn_raceentry/viewevent.php?event_id=23 see who you're up against...3 separate lists.