Merida Brass Monkeys R3 – The Tropical One!

Well after the first two rounds where weather was a prominent part of the series, how could round 3 be any different! Round 1 saw monsoon type deluge put without the warmth, while round 2 saw temperatures dip into serious minus figures, so of course with all these extremes the 3rd one just had to be tropical, didn’t? We could but hope!

In the end we had to settle for another cold one which befits a winter series I guess, just to throw a bit of variation on a theme we even had an ever so light sprinkling of snow early in the morning, so this has to be the white one!

Entry was once again high, with plenty of newcomers eager to try their legs out on a course that last saw any racing way back in the depths of the early ‘90’s. Parkhurst Hill is where everyone converged and by 11am the trails were thronged with hundreds of riders suddenly realising why this one was also known as the tough one! Over the 7 mile sinuous course, which boasted miles of slick ribbons of singletrack, that descended and kicked, flicking through woods and over plateaus, before dumping you at the base of steady fire roads that climbed steadily, so you could do all the at descending again and again! It was a merry little roller coaster ride, which just happened to include a 1000-foot of climbing each lap.

Despite the biting cold and the tough climbs, riders were ablaze with praise for the course, well after they’d finished, had a coffee and warmed up! As the series finale, the racing was going to be even closer as there was the little matter of the overall series wins to secure along the way to the day’s podium placings.

After the first rounds devastating effect on both man and machine, there was plenty to play for in many of the categories.

Full report can be found on the Gorrick and Merida Brass Monkeys websites.

All photos now online...