10 Under the Ben

So, by the sounds of it, the whole of Scotland was bathed in glorious sunshine on Saturday except for Fort William, where Maddy and I (and about 1000 other die hards!) slogged it out for 10 hours at 10 Under the Ben in the heavy rain.

Looking back, it felt like it pretty much bucketed down the entire time, with the odd dry spell here and there. Nonetheless, the testing course held up well and was really enjoyable to ride. And at least the rain kept the midges away!

The route was slightly different from last year's (so I'm told) with extra bits of singletrack cut in, keeping it interesting and not simply following the existing World Champs course. These singletrack sections proved to be quite challenging as the day wore on and the fresh roots became more and more exposed.

Also new for this year was the Le Mans style start, which, after agreeing that it would be unfair to expect Maddy to do (broken ankle at Christmas), I was totally dreading. However, the run was more like a 100yard dash across the carpark and I was just about capable of this!

Lap 1 went as expected with queues (?!) at most of the tech-y features with people either crashing or getting off and pushing. But by lap 2, it had all strung out well and Maddy and I found our flow. We decided to take turns doing 1 lap each, which I think was the fastest option for us, and we were sitting in 3rd place from the off (I think!).

Photo: Pete Morgan

We were completeing our laps in quite consistent times with no mishaps, until.....BANG!! Two thirds into my 4th lap I though one of the other competitors had resorted to underhand tactics and tried to take a shot at me. Turned out they hadn't and it was just my back tyre exploding! With no option but to leg it back the 4miles to the finish area carrying/pushing/swearing at my bike, it felt like I was on foot for hours and was convinced I had lost us our 3rd place. But it turned out it only cost us about 15-20mins and we were still safe.

In the end, Maddy & I completed 9 laps in 10hrs40mins and earned ourselves a respectable step on the podium.

The Walkers Cycling girls Alexis Barnes and Julie Nimmo took second, while the Craigie girls Kim and Lee took 1st with 10 laps.

Photo: Ross Black

We also took the opportunity to model the new kit at the race. The fists on the shorts seem a lot bigger when I'm wearing them though....