Sunday saw the inaugural running of the Blairadam Blast; a short course XC race run on a fun and spectator friendly compact course. Laps were in the region of two miles, with the rider having the most laps after 90 minutes being declared the winner. Lots of roots and slippy sections kept people on their toes, a bombhole and some lovely swoopy singletrack made for smiles, and only two minor fireroad sections broke up the fun stuff.

I was planning on having fun at this race, and not going too crazy at the start. A spot prize opportunity about halfway up the start straight put paid to that, with a massive effort at the start seeing me take this early prize. I was first into the singletrack, with Sean Clarke and James Fraser-Moodie hot on my heels. About halfway through the lap James came past and started to ride away. Sean tried to go with him but ended up in the middle with about 10 seconds on me. At about the third lap I caught and passed Sean as he removed a troublesome stick from his cassette.

I held second position all the way to the end. Somewhat disappointingly I missed out on doing an 8th lap by about a minute. James took the win, with Sean eventually being overhauled by Andy Cathcart for the third place. VCM predictably took the top spots in the singlespeed category, with Jon Meredith and Martin Steele in first and second place respectively.

Thanks to the organizers for putting on such a great little event literally minutes away from my house, I really hope the put it on again. Thanks to the event sponsors and volunteers also. Finally thanks to all those who turned up to cheer riders on, and of course to those who took part with smiles and courteous overtaking manners.