Valley keeps grip on biking festival
ROSSENDALE will again play host to an adrenalinefuelled mountain bike festival this summer.
Northern Grip returns to the borough in 2019, taking place at Bacup’s Lee Quarry and the pump track at Stubbylee Park on Saturday, July 13.
Fans of cycling can look forward to an excit- ing day of trails, bike demonstrations, live music, DJs and children’s activities.
Northern Grip is just one of a host of events and facilities helping to forge the Valley’s reputation as Lancashire’s ‘Adrenaline Valley’.
A spokesperson said: “Northern Grip is all about the social side of biking, with a chilled party atmosphere for all the family to explore in our glorious parkland festival hub and spectac- ular riding on the hills.
“The riding will feature several miles of rocky, twisty singletrack amidst the weird and wild landscape of the Lancashire moors.
“We’ll be pushing ourselves to bring you some choice new routes to explore this year, as well as the graded trails of Lee Quarry’s spectacular amphitheatre on our doorstep.
“For those who have come to previous Northern Grips, you’ll be pleased to know we aren’t cutting anything back for this year.
“And we’ll be bringing back a bit of the unexpected hilltop madness that you’ve come to expect at Northern Grip.
“Regular grippers will remember well the brass bands playing in a quarry, sausage rolls on a hilltop, hula hoop gymnasts on the demo loop, punk rock in the allotments, ice pop refuelling stops and sunshine in Bacup. There’ll be more of that sort of thing this year.”
Council leader Alyson Barnes said they are ‘delighted’ to welcome back the festival and are ‘ very pleased to support it’.
She said: “It is always a brilliant weekend. The organisers put on a superb festival, which has something for everyone – not just serious mountain bikers.
“Last year, I was delighted to see so many people enjoying the superb facilities we have here. Such events show Rossendale has a unique sports offer – as the organisers of Northern Grip have said – there is nowhere else in the world like Lee Quarry.
“We want to attract more events like this one which bring people across the country here and show we are the Adrenaline Valley.”
For ticket information visit northerngrip. co. uk.