Organisers hail Ski-an-Duro success
ORGANISERS are ‘delighted’ with the first instalment of the new ski and biking enduro race, Ski-an-Duro, which was hosted by Nevis Range, along with event partners No Fuss Events, a fortnight ago.
The event, which took place on Sunday March 25, combined snow and ski/board cross with mountain bike enduro and attracted dozens of competitors up the gondola.
The race had originally been scheduled to take place on March 17, but the weather front nicknamed the ‘Beast from the East’ meant that the race date was carried over to the following weekend.
Nevis Range was buzzing with anticipation from first thing on Sunday as Ski-an-Duro participants registered from 7am, alongside the SKIMO racers also competing at Nevis Range and eager fans of snowboarding Olympian Billy Morgan.
The format for Ski-an-Duro was remarkably simple, as participants completed two qualifying stages with their combined time giving them a grid position for the final mass start stage.
Stage one was a classic enduro mountain bike stage, utilising one of the many legendary bike tracks stages at Nevis Range. Stage two, the snow sport stage, maximised the existing snow cover for skiers or boarders making the most of the amazing snow conditions.
The final stage comprised a mass start race from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom. Participants skied and boarded down to the transition area at the top station where they switched to their mountain bikes and descended the mountain using the world famous mountain bike downhill course and other classic enduro routes that the mountain has to offer.
Frazer Coupland, from No Fuss Events, said: ‘We have been delighted with the response to this event, the atmosphere on race day was amazing, big smiles, high fives as well as some healthy amounts of trepidation (that was from us as organisers). We certainly envisage growing this event going forward into 2019.’
Lochaber competitor Fergus Lamb finished top of the podium with an impressive combined time for all three stages, beating second-placed Moray Goodfellow by just 10 seconds.
Chris O’Brien, from Nevis Range, reported an amazing day’s racing leading to an incredible atmosphere on the hill at Nevis Range.
He said: ‘The staff here always love a No Fuss event and we’ll be working closely with Frazer and Spook to bring you more incredible events in 2018 as well as a bigger better faster Ski an Duro in 2019.’