28 September seemed to be the Piccadilly of enduro events as venues up and down the country were offering a variety of experiences for thousands of riders, over 200 of which plumped for a visit to the beautiful Forest of Dean for the third edition of this laid back and popular enduro put on by the local cycling club, The Royal Forest of Dean CC.

A devious 10-mile circuit cunningly crafted from all the best the forest has to offer was what lay in wait for the hardy souls who came from near and far to take part. At a quick glance you wouldn’t have realised the amount of energy sapping climbing was involved, this included a lung-busting mile or so climb from the start, nothing too severe but from a standing start vying for position, it guaranteed to make you sigh with relief when you hit the first of many miles of singletrack that snaked it’s way through the autumnal forest, couple that with no real place to rest as you can guess this was going to be a real ‘endurance’ test.

Starting at a slightly chilly 10.30am, but under gorgeously blue skies (a seemingly rare occasion this year), the riders were off, with the majority plumping for 2 laps and a hard core 40 or so going the full distance, leaving just over 20 to get stuck in over the 1 lap.

In amongst the hardened enduro riders tackling the 4 laps were 2 time Mountain Mayhem winner Anthony White, out to do a bit of fast training before his attack on the coming D2D event. Out to put a spanner in the works was adversary Adi Scott, plus top Masters racer Rob Oakes to name a few of the competitors keen to get stuck in.

It was White who set the tempo blasting out from the front and leading virtually the whole way, with Scott, Joe Andrews, Oakes, Mark Spratt and Andrew Baum trying to limit the damage. Meanwhile as the 4-lap race unfolded the 2-lap race was being played out, with two vets leading the way. Kevin Townsend and Ross Porter set the pace and after the two laps were only separated from the top 2 spots by sport rider Matthieu Bernard. It was Townsend who took the top honours completing the 2 laps in 1hr 32mins 18secs. Porter conceded just over a minute to take 2nd vet, while Ashley Roles just held off Paul Davis to take 3rd in the vets.

Bernard took the sports win, with the organising club’s Jeremy Addis had to be content with 2nd spot after a pinch flat robbed him of his commanding lead. Youngster Ryan Nash took home the prize of first youth, finishing 5th overall. Gaynor Lea made it an even better day out for the Climb Ob Bikes team when she was the first lady home, with Ruth Evan-Owens finishing less than 2 minutes adrift behind to take 2nd overall and first sport lady. Tom Abrams took the honours in the fun and beginners 1 lap, with the next 3 finishers coming home with just 34 secs separating them.

Back at the long haul race White was slowly being reeled in and by lap 4 he’d been overhauled by a delighted Scott who went on to take the win, with a clear two minutes margin. It’ll be interesting to see these two lock horns at their next outing where they are both riding 12hrs solo.

White took 2nd overall but claimed first Master, with Rob Oakes and Mark Spratt filling the next two spots. With Scott claiming overall victory and first expert rider the next expert home went to Joe Andrews, followed by Tom Ward. Despite suffering from a mechanical after just 2 laps Royal Forester rider Jared Linden battled on to come home as the first junior, finishing in a respectable 8th overall.

Enduro specialist Mel Alexander didn’t have too great a day out with illness meaning she was just out for a pootle rather than a serious race, but to add more misery she punctured just 50m from the start – hopefully she’ll be feeling tip top for Dusk ‘til Dawn and her tubes will be puncture proof.

As the race came to an end rider spilled down the hill to the popular Pedalaway centre to load up on hot tea and carbs as they retold their tales of their own right royal romp through the forest.

Many thanks to the Royal Forest of Dean CC for putting on such a cracking event, especially to everyone who came along to marshal, without your input and enthusiasm events such as this would never get off the ground. Thanks to race organiser Ben Oliver, who despite getting married recently wasn’t distracted from getting the event off the ground. Trevor Hyde did a grand job of sorting out the entries and organising the signing on, while Race Timing provided the means to time the laps.

Finally many thanks to the Forest Enterprise for letting us put this event on every year and of course thanks too, to all the competitors who turned up to see what we had to offer, from the number of smiles we saw after the event we’re sure you enjoyed it, without you of course it would be no fun at all! See you next year.

Full results at www.rdfcc.org.uk/Enduro2008.html