Dave concentrates on his line (pic: John Mullineaux)

Every London MTBer will be familiar with the Beastway series of XC racing. Hosted at Eastway, a venue in East London, the racing has been going on there for the last 13 years, and in that time has attracted a huge fan base.

At times it’s had over 200 people on the start line, which for anyone who’s been to the compact venue, will realise that’s a lot of people. Over the last 13 years organisers have hosted 156 races with over 28,000 people taking part. That’s impressive.

So it’s a sad day that Wednesday 2 August will mark the last ever time that a starting hooter will signal the beginning of a MTB race at Eastway. To mark this sad occasion, the organisers are staging the Beastway Team Championships. Open to teams of four with three counting for the result – fear not if you’re a rider down as the organisers will be offering a speed dating service. Racing kicks at at 7.30pm and costs just £10.

Why is this the last Beastway? And where does the name Beastway come from? John from LondonCycleSport.com fills us in:

“After September 2006 Eastway Cycle Circuit will be closed and bulldozed to accommodate the 2012 Olympics. For thirteen years a group of London cyclist’s (of all styles) have come together in the summer months to promote a summer mountain bike series at Eastway Cycle Circuit, in East London.

Off road racing began at the purpose built road circuit when a cyclo-cross race, then the Revolution MTB Series sprouted up and this series was held for a few years before Beastway began. Many might remember that the final of the Essex Winter MTB Series was also held there.

Thirteen years ago the present group took over and the series has grown from entries of 80 to 200 plus on occasions. The courses are different each week and a myriad of trails have developed on the site making it a great place to ride in central London. The courses are not that hard but the combination of tight trails and large numbers of riders makes it a challenge, and thus a bit of a ‘beast’. The calls of ‘on your right please’ are a feature of Beastway.”

Visit www.beastway.com for more information.