HELL of the ASHDOWN - Sunday 31st January 2010

Full result of 2010 HELL of the ASHDOWN Challenge now on this website

• As has now become the 'norm' we have been inundated with thank you Emails which is most heartening.
• We are pleased to learn that the efforts of the marshals and officials are appreciated and that the riders felt that the event was well organised.
• Although everyone found the course tough and particularly harrowing, because of the ice nevertheless you all seem to have enjoyed your day.
• However we have received two Emails questioning whether the event should have been cancelled at the last minute.
• There have also been rumblings in the Forums as to why the 'icy conditions' route was not used?

Let’s face it any cyclists who's foolhardy enough to venture into the countryside in midwinter must be prepared to meet ice on the road!
The HELL of the ASHDOWN Challenge is no exception.

WHY WASN'T THE EVENT CANCELLED?
We sent out Emails asking everyone to read the notice on the website which set out the conditions under which we would cancel the event:
'If there is there is the prospect of deep fresh snow then we may decide to cancel the event. In this case notice will be posted on website on Saturday PM'.

WHY WASN'T THE 'ICE CONDITIONS' ROUTE USED?
As announced on the website we had in place planned precautions should there be cause to anticipate widespread ice conditions:
'If there is a likelihood of widespread icy patches in the country lanes then an alternative route will be used which avoids some of these'

Whilst 'widespread icy patches' (the weather forecaster's terminology) were predicted for other regions, none was forecast for our area.
What is more relevant is the monitoring of the situation on the ground.
The team putting up the signs reported that although there were some icy patches around this did not warrant changing the route.
During the night however, although -1 was forecast it actually plummeted to minus 5. Therefore on the morning of the event we were faced with widespread ice not only in the lanes [which would have been bypassed on the ‘icy conditions’ route] but also on the roads of the main route itself. However the decision to use the ‘icy conditions route’ must be made sufficiently far in advance to allow both re-waymarking of the route and also contacting and redirecting the marshals. It is therefore impossible to change things at the last minute.
We had advised the use of winter tyres. Slick tyres with no tread are not very effective on ice. We are of course deeply sorry if anyone was injured.