Hafren Dirt Bike Club members have been hard at work for the past 6 months preparing what is essentially a new event to the Edmondson Racing British Enduro Championship. Although this event will share some elements of their successful Hafren British, European and World rounds. As this event is slightly further West than usual Hafren DBC events, HDBC have joined forces with the Aberystwyth & District Motorcycle Club to stage this event, which has added much needed extra manpower, enthusiasm, and local knowledge of the Western side of the route.
The start area will be at the superb Llanidloes Rugby Club facility which offers beautiful surroundings on the banks of the River Severn. Offering; flat parking, permanent toilet and shower facilities, bar and food, and outside taps for running water. All of this is only a few minutes walk into the town of Llanidloes which has a selection of shops, hotel, pubs and restaurants.
The 1
st test is only a few fields away from the paddock, many of you will know this one from previous Hafren Enduro’s. It is a massive wide open grass test, with lots of natural undulations and obstacles creating a real buzz for riders and spectators alike.
From here the riders will head across the river Severn on and old railway bridge across some farmland and into the back of Llanidloes, where there will be short section of tarmac which may confuse riders as it heads out towards the Hafren Forest, but only a mile or so out of the town, the route heads west, on some small lanes, heading over the mountain on a mix of gravel, roads, farm tracks and open going tkaiong in some stunning view before dropping back down crossing the A44 just outside Llangurig, and heading straight into the 2
nd test and service area at Glangwy Caravan site. This is again another grass special test, but will be quite different from the 1
st test, a lot of this will be tighter, as it uses a number of small grass paddocks, and a larger rough slightly boggy area which will be more open and flowing again. This test will have a few tricky ditches where the better riders will be able to make up time by jumping them, where the slower riders will have to pick a line and ride through.
After topping up with fuel riders have short section of tarmac then a few miles of fire road taking them into the Tarenig Forest and the 1
st time control. There will be a duel route from here, where the Championship and Expert riders will tackle quite a challenging few miles of going, and the Clubman will head in a different direction, meeting back up ¼ through the check. This will be quite a short check that will make the riders work a little. Then there will be short relaxed check taking riders out of Tarenig and across the windmills into Myherin Forest. The next check will be relatively long and more challenging check all in Myherin with a few downhills that will keep riders on their toes!
From this check it is back over the windmills and into Tarenig for the run back to the special test and service at Glangwy, which will be a mix of fire road, forestry going, and a short distance on the tarmac. Plenty of time will be allowed for this check with the test and service, so everybody has enough time for fuel for bikes and bodies, and also the route passes by some properties on the way back into the forest and the organisers want riders to be able to ride slowly and quietly past.
At the end of the day riders will follow the route they used from the start in the morning, but in reverse, this will take them back to the test near the paddock. There is always a good atmosphere here at the end of the day, especially if it is still close on Sunday afternoon, as lots of the locals turn up to watch and cheers the riders on. It is hoped that Championship riders will ride some of the tests back to back which will make it even more exciting for the spectators
It is expected that Championship and Expert will do 3 or 3.5 laps, Clubman 2 or 2.5, with a slightly shorter day planned for Sunday.
Good weather is hoped for in August, but we all know how reliable Welsh Summer time can be, so the organisers have a Plan B, with wet weather alternatives for some of the trickier sections in the forests.
Entries for this event are available through the ACU online Entry system at
https://members.acu.org.uk/Secure/Login.aspx. There is also link to this on the Hafren DBC website
www.hafrendbc.co.uk
Entry numbers will be limited to 180 so please enter early to avoid disappointment.