Well what fantastic news it was to hear that Aston Hill were bringing racing back to the Hill for 2009. Even better was the sheer amount of riders and spectators that turned up to support the first event under the new club management.

A rare occasion I thought for an Aston Hill Race was the lack of mist laying on and around the Hill, this for me after years of racing there had become the norm for early morning starts at race days. Instead we were graced by a fantastic warm and sunny spring day, leaving the tracks dry and rolling fast.

The main car park and pit area was a hive of excitement with several bike shops and stands making an appearance to sell and promote new gear. There was also a BBQ in full swing all day long.

Wandering down the course I had to go and take good attention to the new section and racing line that had been cut into the Black Run. Those of you familiar with the course will remember the short drop about half way down the course - for this race that had been blocked off to reveal a brand new section running along all the way down to the 'recent' second drop near the bottom of the course. This new section made for some interesting riding with a mix of loose soil and mixed root covering - an unusual track condition for Astons common flint and chalk trails.

With fantastic dry (but slightly tacky) track conditions the practice session saw some lightening fast runs, there were far too many people with excess energy so early in the day! Lots of sessioning later, and a after few tumbles we saw the race runs begin.

Two main areas causing a few problems for a lot of riders on the day where the loose soil corners just after the infamous switchbacks, these corners suffered through the day and started to get torn up quite badly, but they made some interesting drift action from several riders! The other area of occasional concern was the quite locally famous 'cocaine alley' and new corner section leading up the blocked off drop (half way down) - quite a few riders ended up taking a tumble, or as others did, managed much more spectacular crashes into trees. I hope to all concerned no injuries were a result.

The race runs saw some hot runs and impressive time crunching between certain riders. Just from standing watching you got an immense feel of the speed these guys and girls were carrying - insanely fast. The fastest run of the day clocked in at a mere 1:35.20, a fantastic effort, and well done to John Holbrook for setting such a rapid time. You can view the full set of race results on the Mikrotime website - direct link to the results here... http://www.mikrotime.com/mtb/ast2009/ast0901.html

Overall it was fantastic to see the hill back into action to have an event such as this really kick off and prove to be a huge success. A perfect way to put Aston Back on the map for good.

Well done to all who raced, some spectacular racing action was witnessed, and a huge shout of thanks to everyone involved in helping with and organizing the event.

Lets hope 2009 sees many more races up on our local Hill...

Kind Regards

Scott
bucksmtb.co.uk