This Sunday (July 29) eight riders will take part in the inaugural running of the Legs of Mann 100 mile mountain bike event.  It’s a point to point race with just over 15,000 feet of climbing, starting at the Point of Ayre at 7am and finishing at The Sound some time before the sun sets.

The event will take in, amongst others, Sky Hill, Ballacuberagh, Ballacob, St. Lukes, Cronk Breck, Glion Gill, Barnell, Ballacotch, Chibbanagh, South Barrule, Corlea, Cringle, EaryStane, finishing with a punishing ascent of Mansell’s Hill after over 95 miles of riding. At least that’s on Tarmac!

The organisers expect that the fastest of the riders will take 10 hours to complete the challenge; the longest allowed is 14.5 hours before cut off times start kicking in.
Event organiser Nigel Morris, on behalf of the Manx Mountain Bike Club, thanked Manx Telecom for their support in providing a GPS tracker for each competitor. The trackers were used successfully in this year’s Manx Telecom Parish Walk. This will greatly assist Nigel and his band of helpers to manage the whereabouts of the riders and to ensure that the actual route taken can be corroborated against the route provided. Nigel says:

“We are absolutely delighted that Manx Telecom have come on board, and already provided a mountain of support behind the scenes, plus the loan of the trackers and expertise to go with that.  We hope the event becomes as iconic as the End to End.”

There is interest from the UK, with one rider making the trip across the Irish Sea to try his hand at the Manx trails. The remaining nine riders are not frightened to test their mettle against a route devised by the Legs Of Mann team, who are becoming renowned for mountain bike events that are epic in terms of distance and terrain.

Riders taking part are Julian Corlett, Adrian Beale, Stephen Kelly, Stuart W Clayton, Lee Clayton, Stephen Wood, Dave Le Geyt, and Paul Kennish.