The Xmoor Enduro Club couldn't have chosen an unluckier day weather wise to run their season opener at Combe Sydenham on Exmoor. But at least it was dry and Sunny on the Saturday before the event, when they had to finish laying the track out!

Carl Mcilroy splashing his way to 4th place. 

And lay out a good race circuit they certainly did. For those that have never been - or wandered around the track, believe me its fair awesome. Based in a superb country park setting (in fact its where they hold the UK downhill mountain bike champs), the track combines everything from woodland to pastures, lakeside skirmishes, to killer - up and down hills, plus wild stream crossings and nasty off cambers.

The track was a bit wet in places!!

All this is linked by some fair awesome forest fire roads that vary from short and windy, to flat out in top - for the brave.

Clerk of the Course - and the man responsible for the superb track layout - Simon Thomas, appeared to have though of everything. Anticipating the possibility of rather nasty weather springing a surprise, all the 'nasty' gnarly sections also had 'easy' sportsmans routes, around which all but the brave could choose to take. These were always longer, but a far gentler route.

The action was hot on this slippery hairpin turn.

The beauty of the 2 route system is, it can provide a real challenge for the better riders, but prevents any possibility of massive jam-ups, caused by those still learning all the skills necessary to ride like the championship top guns.

Then the rains came… and these 'alternative' easy routes proved to be a real godsend for almost all !!

Gnarly downhills were all part of the fun.

The morning started with a junior race - the first of four that the Xmoor club are putting on this year.

In the 85cc 2-stroke class Steve Holcombe took a well deserved win from Marty Coombes who had travelled all the way down from Wokingham to take second place.

Chris Berwick - Going and gone!

But what an awesome ride from young Sophie Thomas who pushed Marty - who has won all the Track and Trail championships - hard all the way. Although her fastest lap time was quite a bit slower than his, Sophies consistent riding and fixed determination put her only four minutes behind 2nd place Marty and 8 minutes ahead of 4th place Peter Knowles.

Slippery lakeside views along the home straight.

The adult race started away in ranks at intervals during the torrential rain - that had been non stop since daybreak. It was soon clear that the riding on trials pattern tyres on this now very slick wet track, was going to require a lot of skill and delicacy of throttle.

The Championship and Expert riders were first away - and soon learnt that the gnarly 'shortcuts' planned for their use, was not the wisest option. Many got stuck and others expended so much energy, that any time gain would prove not worth it on what they new would be an energy sapping and gruelling 3 hours.

Steve Dustow rode well to 2nd place overall.

Just after lap one as the top boys came through, No9 Nick Life already had a commanding lead of at least 1 minute. No2 Steve Dustow was the next rider in sight, followed a few moments later by No19 Carl Mcilroy.

Nick Life No9 caught taking time out to wash his hands.

Bradley Williams No4 was next in sight and charging very hard with No5 Gary Wright storming up behind. No16 young Jamie Paget was once again putting in a good show just a few moments later, with Gary Player No18 on his tail.

Expected front runner Chris Dustow No1 was trailing back in eighth place at this juncture after a spot of trouble involving another rider on an early 'expert route'. No3 Pete Bulley was next in sight with a trailing Ian Putt No15 just behind. At this point Expert rider No48 Rob Pollard tried to make an over enthusiastic pass on Ian but came into the steep slimy hairpin far to hot and overshot the turn completely. Allowing No10 Charlie Richards to regain his position in front.

Bradley Williams took a fine 3rd place.

• It was about now that my notepad melted away in the rain and the pen wouldn't write on it anymore, - so trying to keep any sort of detailed track of riding positions was definitely out of the question. But… luckily and with help from others I can clearly recall one or two amusing incidents!

After struggling to walk up the longest and steepest hill I can recall for many years - to get to the first gnarly 'expert only route'. I was disapointed to see that all the very best riders were giving it a miss! Mind you this was a very wise decision as it turned out. But after a long wait the high pitched scream of a little red husky came into view as rider No58 tried to take the shortcut - even though the championship lads weren't!

Rain streamed down as riders headed into the woods.

It was a brave attempt, but after quite a struggle he gave up and went back the long way.

But there was one bit that was truly breathtaking - now named 'Nick Life's Hill'. As the riders rode around one of the lakes, there was an option to bypass quite a few hundred yards of track. But only if you were good enough to ride up the steepest hill in any enduro I have ever seen - and yes I was at the Tough One this year.

Richard Tucker speeding through the woods.

I got to that part of the track at around the 2 hour mark and no one was even looking at it. At this juncture we thought Nick Life must have retired - like so many others did (Mainly with bike trouble), because we hadn't noticed him for the last 30 minutes. But then I saw this competitor go for it - to see it was to believe it. Lets put it in context. Most riders were having problems moving forward on the flat, and then this guy just drives up a 70 degree wet loose and slimy slope - AWESOME! …and of course it was Nick Life - and he did it lap after lap - and oh so casually.

This sheer drop ridge track was a mass of muddy slurry.

Like many riders who chanced removing their goggles Mark Tucker from Minehead spent a few days with very sore eyes. But he finished 7^th in the Expert class, this was after a bad start which gave him difficulty catching up after that.

Richard Tucker was also pleased with his ride and caused a bit of laughter after sliding down one of the steep climbs on his backside! Eventually finishing 19th in clubman 2 stroke.

A rider pauses, wondering which route will be the easiest.

Debbie from the XEC club was really pleased to see her neighbour Robert Southcott a newcomer to the sport do so well. She write "Robert lives in the next valley over to us and we encouraged him to get started and have a go. So we put him in the sportsman class as a first timer. WRONG he won that class easily and I think if you look at his lap times he may have even won the Clubman!"

Wet here too!

As Debbie says - he may well be one to watch out for if he stays as keen. Apparently he thoroughly enjoyed it - as I think most of the riders did.

After 3 tough hours, Nick Life breezed the Championship class by 9 minutes from Steve Dustow. Bradley Williams came 3^rd and Carl Mcilroy 4^th.

Rob Pollard won the Experts from Gary Mcoy and Gerald Spiers took 3^rd spot ahead of Mark Cornick and Chris Honeywill.

To view the full results lists, please click the links at the bottom of this page.

Towards the days end this stream got VERY deep!

At the end of the day I had to drive Ian Putt's van home to Exeter. He started cautiously at the beginning of the race and was really riding strong at about half distance - coming up through the ranks. We think he may have possibly reached 6^th at the time and was trying to overtake young Jamie Padget, when riding without goggles got his eyes filled in - so that was his day over.

Even though the ambulance first aiders did their best and washed out most of the muck, he still couldn't see to drive home and eventually had to go to hospital to get sorted.

The going was incredibly varied and extremely exiting.

As a warning to others - Ian is this week having difficulty seeing due to suffering from a scratched eyeball - which was also painful.

You only get one set of eyes - so look after them!

Anyway well done again to everyone at XEC.

Considering the atrocious conditions they did a fantastic job - and despite the fairly high rate of non finishers all riders seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Final comment: I have never seen so many super slack chains ever and the various noises coming out of some people's bikes were horrifying. Most of the 'non finishers' looked to me to be due to either long overdue winter maintenance still not done and the general lack of bike preparation for a tough wet event.

To finish first - first you got to finish!

If you want to ride a tough proper enduro like this - get yer bikes sorted properly!!!

Yesterday - wednesday - when I opened the battery compartment on my camera, water poured out of it - and I thought I had dried it out by Monday morning!

Adult Results HERE
Youth Results HERE