Ay Up Dusk til Dawn [Tamworth]

As some of you may know, the last dusk til dawn on the east coast was in SEQ some years back. I have been working in Tamworth for 2 years now, and while the local riding scene there is great, in recent months (due to a lot of motivated peeps) the MTB scene has been on the up and up. A good friend (and race promoter) suggested the idea of a Tamworth 12hr, and asked my thoughts on when to run it due to the heat. Me - loving night riding - suggested a D2D. Daniel ran with this idea and the Tamworth D2D was born.

The Track: 11km of lets say 'brutal' climbing, as well as lots of twisty corners and pinchers. The best thing though, was that we got some rain 2 days out from the race which turned this track - that had been like riding on marbles - into Hero Dirt. Strava was always going to get a work out with these conditions.  I'm not sure of final figures but we ended up with around 80-100 keen night riders. This event was just like what I had raced in years past.

The Race: I don't want to ramble for too long, but since it was the first race of the year for both of us  and I wanted to be sociable during the race, Crummy and I decided to race pairs. Ay Up was there to manage the charging tent and some peeps scored some sick light kits as random awesome prizes. Crummy and I managed 1st in our category & 4th overall after a tight race with the JT Fossy racing crew. This bunch are made up Ray Griffin, Pete Selkrig and Phil Welch, each of these riders are exceptional in there own right over various disciplines. Thanks for keeping us honest guys.

All up the race was a huge success in my eyes. It reminded me of the D2D of old, and I'm sure next year it's going to be bigger and better than ever. Massive thanks to all involved in making it a success, also a big thanks to Ay Up for putting up some sick prizes and supporting the Tamworth MTB scene.