The UK’s most spectacular Enduro just got even more spectacular-er

Last weekend our very own Fair City Enduro further cemented its reputation as the UK’s most spectacular Mountain Bike Enduro.  Come on, what did you expect?  Where else can you see a Mermaid pull a suicide no-hander through a cloud of green smoke? (apart from in your dreams when you’ve eaten too much cheese on toast).

As seems to be the way these days, tickets sold out weeks ahead of race day with over four hundred and seventy sign ups and a big waiting list.  Absolutely amazeballs!  After months of dig days to get the trails running and draining sweetly (thanks to all the trailbuilders!), with three weeks to go the heavens opened and it didn’t stop raining for a fortnight.

Bang goes all those buff berms, or should I say…..splat?  🙁

With one week to go there was still an unsettled forecast but at least the rain had stopped.  Maybe, just maybe, the trails would dry up before race day?

By the time we started course-taping on Thursday things were looking up.  The trails had gone from super-slippy to super-tacky and the forecast for the weekend was looking good.  The weather Gods were smiling down upon us and it looked like conditions would be near perfect.  Ya dancer!

Red Bull Rampage just happened to be live on TV the night before the race, so once we’d finished taping the Muckmarshals headed to the offices of our Sponsors Smart and Co. to watch the action unfold on the big screen in their media room.  Pizza, beer and Red Bull Rampage is the perfect way to get stoked for race day!  Thanks to Graeme and Doug at Smart & Co. for supplying the biggest pile of pizza I’ve ever seen and to Black Isle Brewery for sending down a few cases of delicious #MTBeer for the crew.  Absolute legends!

After the usual sleepless night going through every possible worst case scenario that might happen on race day (an angry goose is unlikely to pop the Haglofs arch, but it could happen..) the alarm went off and I pulled back the curtains of the Muckin’ caravan to reveal a crystal clear (but still dark) sky.  Even at this un-godly hour you could tell the sun was coming out to play.

The crew set up the start/finish area and got the tunes on whilst caterers and traders trickled into the event village and a constant stream of vans and cars headed into the car park.  I grab the timing stations and head up to the Marshal briefing.  Was that E.T. I just spotted in the car park?  It’s going to be a good day.

8am – Kinnoull Shed

Old-hand Muckmarshals catch up, whilst first timers wonder what the heck they’ve gotten themselves into.  Tom the Safety Officer gives his usual reassuring safety briefing to Marshals and Medics before we hand out course maps, radios, lunches and the familiar orange vests.  All the Muckmarshals help themselves to one of our fancy new Muckmarshal mugs and merchandise from the box of delights before getting into position on course.  It’s almost time for the first wave to leave the event village and excitement is building in the forest.

9am – South Inch, Perth

The first wave departs the event village.  Riders from all corners of the UK (and in various states of crazy fancy dress) climb high above the city in the autumnal sunshine to enjoy spectacular views of the River Tay on the way to the summit of Deuchny Hill.  Riders have seven timed stages to ride today, ending with the infamous “Cliff Run” descent to Perth.

As always, some riders were there to embrace the fancy-dress theme, have a laugh and enjoy the fantastic trails on offer, while others put their game faces on as they sought to earn points for the coveted 2020 Enduro World Series.  Everyone enjoyed blue skies, sunshine and the laid-back Fair City Enduro vibe.  The sun was shining, queues were minimal, the trails were running sweetly and Team Muck were on form.  What an amazing bunch they are (insert huggy/love emoji here).

As far as the racing went, local boy Ruaidhri Forrester stormed a packed field to take the overall win for a THIRD time, confirming that he really is the king of FCE.  The fastest female was Jessie May Morgan (MSC Tires UK) who put in a fantastic set of stage times to beat all-comers on the day and become the seventh fastest female in as many years.  Who’ll be the first female to take the title twice?

Special shout out to the riders who were representing any of our Sponsors on the day.  Graeme from Smart & Co. was our lead rider and checked all tape and signage was in place before the race started, Sixth Element’s Mike Clyne took the overall in Vets, whilst Keith and Lindsay from Terra Venture swept all seven stages dressed as devils on their MSC Tandem!  Tom from Comrie Croft Bikes took the Hardtail victory and the “E-Power Rangers” from Progression Bikes stormed the Ebike category.  Well done all.

I won’t go into the other details of the race too much, but you can click here if you want to pour over the full results and here to view the full image gallery, there are some absolute beauties in there!  Well done to everyone who made an effort to get dressed up and embraced the “spirit of FCE” on the day.

I tried to capture the day from an event organiser’s point of view on my GoPro and the results were…….well, check it out below to find out.  Let’s just call it “art”.

Is it just me, or does Fair City Enduro get better each year?  Actually, I know it’s not just me who thinks that, because your feedback from last weekend has been unbelievably positive.  Hopefully we’ve hit on a winning formula for now, but we’ll still keep trying new ideas from time to time just to keep things fresh.  Just to remind you, over the years we’ve tried the following…….

  • Shonkily built Spectator Stage in the event village (not “Enduro” enough apparently).
  • Stunt airbag on Perth High Street (unpopular with some local businesses – presumably too many people hanging around who may try to spend money).
  • Pumptrack (took half a day to set up, it rained, we packed it away again).
  • Fire Engine bar (too cold in October to sit outside).
  • Silent Disco (see “Fire Engine bar”).
  • Clown with a rubber chicken riding a Penny Farthing (what’s not to like?).
  • Extreme Balance Bike racing (hilarious, might bring it back).

Over the years it’s become apparent that some ideas work at one event but not at another (and some ideas just don’t work).  At Fair City Enduro it seems that amazing trails (and ridiculous fancy dress) are key to a good event and everything else is a bonus, so this year we put more time and effort into the trails than ever before.  We even added a seventh stage (FCE 2013 only had four forest stages) to give you more quality race time and hopefully managed to hit the sweet spot between a course that’s challenging enough for advanced riders, but still fun to ride by average Joe-sephine.

If we didn’t get something right, please send an email to info@muckmedden.co.uk and let us know how we could improve things.

It’s amazing to think that the seventh edition of FCE has been and gone and we’re now looking ahead to our 2020 events line-up.  Over the next few weeks we’ll be finalising which events we’re doing next year and where they’ll be, then we’ll be aiming to get the website updated and get tickets on sale for mid-December.  Keep an eye out for updates, but at the moment it looks likely that 2020 is going to be a bit like this….

Enduro – 4th April

Gravel – 26th September

Enduro – 31st October (Halloween?  I wonder where that one is….)

Hopefully you can trust us that all the events will be Muckin’ Good and you’ll reserve the dates in your diary and wait for the juicy details to be revealed.

We’re not counting our chickens, but with tickets selling out in record time this year we’re hoping for another busy year so it might be an idea to book your tickets early to guarantee a place.  It’ll also save you some cash as we’ll be offering Earlybird rates for the first month.

Just one final thanks to all of the Muckmarshals for being amazing yet again this year, we couldn’t do our events without you and worship the ground you walk on.  Cheers to all of our entrants for coming to our events and spreading the Muckin’ love and a final HUGE thanks also to all of our Sponsors for their continued support, you’re absolutely invaluable and it’s great to have you on board (insert hands-out/praise emoji here).

Ciao for now!

Team Muck x