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SACU 2000 ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Round  8 ELRAT Blairadam Forest Enduro

Three weeks of rain left the running of this event in doubt up until the last day. With rivers running several feet higher than last year some parts of the course had to be cut out and others amended.  The clerk of the course Andrew Flockhart decided on slack time schedules and a reduced number of laps to reduce ground damage. Initially it was thought this would produce a short event of only three hours but it turned out three hours was as much as most folk could manage and was just right.
With this being the last event of the year ( the Melville MCC event being cancelled) there were several championships up for grabs. The Expert class had already been won by Derek Little but the over 40 class had the top 5 separated by only 5 points. Jim Wightman secured the title in fine form by winning the event in the first year of this very competitive class. In the Clubman class the title would depend on who won this event. Duncan McCormick still had a chance if he could finish far enough ahead of Hugh Richards, but Hugh pulled out the stops and finished one place ahead to secure the title.
Richard Hay again produced another set of very rapid Expert test times with Derek Little being the only person able to get within reach of him. The test itself was the same as last year with a short Mx style start followed by a fast blast down the road and then a slippy ride through the trees. Chris Hay nearly ended his day within 10  minutes of starting as he discovered trees are not very good at getting out of the way. The marshalls quickly straightened out that stretch of the test. Very few tapes were brought down - thanks guys.
The course itself consisted of some very rutted hills and very slidey off cambers down the BMX track.  However with course adjustments and a lot of heaving by the marshalls the traffic kept on moving. Only one rider was awarded the UFO medal - Rab Moir who attacked a bank at high speed and was removed from the course by the Red Cross. He walked away later but was somewhat stirred and shaken.
In the clubman class Scot Stephen produced a very consitent ride to take the event but a surprise was Rally driver Robbie Head who produced a blistering first test - good enough for an expert place - before the course started to take it's toll and he slipped to a mere human speed, but still good enough for second place.

Several of the riders are now away off the the ISDE in Spain and we wish them well - hopefully there won't be as much mud there.

There were 43 finishers and 16 retirals.

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