Hairy Coo - XC racing in rural Perthshire

Hairy Coo Mountain Bike Challenge 2008

The Coo is back, with bells on!

Fancy a day out in the mud in beautiful rural Perthshire? Comrie Croft Bikes and the Crieff & Strathearn Drovers Tryst are delighted to announce the return of the Hairy Coo Mountain Bike Challenge, to be held on 18 October 2008 at Comrie Croft, near Crieff. The Coo is a fun multi-lap race around our testing trails with forest road climbs, technical singletrack cross-country loops and some fantastic descents over a variety of terrains. While there might be no retro specific focus, the trails at Comrie Croft are handbuilt with no machines, no hardcore and real mud! giving them a very old skool feel.

We have extended and modified the course for this year, so the majority of the downs are on singletrack, but we can still promise some challenging climbs, the odd jump and of course some adrenaline packed racing action! There are categories for all abilities, starting at age 12, and there’s a fun category for dabblers who have never raced but would like to give it a go.

If you were with us last year, you’ll know all about the glorious weather and delicious snacks that come alongside the racing, as well as the family activities to keep the spectators amused throughout the day. In addition to all that, Comrie Croft are holding our annual barn dance and ceilidh on the evening of the race day. This is a great event with fantastic live music, wholesome soup and a licensed bar. As a way to round off a great days biking, you can’t beat it.

Also being held as part of the Drovers Tryst this year is the St Fillans Mountain Bike Challenge. This is also in its second year, and is run over an excellent course in a single lap around Glen Tarken, behind St Fillans on the shores of Loch Earn. This is a great race, which had excellent feedback from its first time out, and is held to raise funds for The Margaret J Gordon Art and Craft Trust. It is held on the opening weekend of 12 October 2008, so why not race both!

Praise for last years Coo
“just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed the Hairy Coo challenge”
“It was just a great mixture of a course, so much singletrack and all with a fab natural feel - the rocks through the forest were my favourite!”
“Thanks for a great race on sunday, I really enjoyed the day. Awesome course !”

For more details, or to enter online, see the website www.droverstryst.co.uk, call the Crieff TIC on 01764 652578, or email colin@comriecroft.com for further details.

One for the macretro lot?

Dave,

If you co-ordinate it I'm up for it, I'm sure others could be conned into joining in.

Stephen

I could be up for this - just depends whether the date is clear, It sounds ideal for Mini-Ken too - other than his age :cry: could the entry not be 12A instead of 12

Id love to see some retro bikes here, i have a 91 Clockwork orange that I'd be tempted to race, if im not too busy with the organisational bits and peices. if theres enough interest we might manage to put together a little prize.

We can be flexible on age of entries too, the more the merrier!

get in touch if your thinking of coming along

coco
coo co-ordinator

I like the idea of this meet to, I could also bring the clockwork and see if I could put in a respectable time :roll:

I think my participation would have to be in the dablers category as I've only ever raced twice and failed to complete on both occasions. I think the white lightning in all its technicolour horror could be readied for this.
Also 18th 0ctober finds me between houses in that i will have moved out of one address awaiting entry into another thus this race could use up some of the time in limbo

Must get round to entering, but everytime I try the link it says the page is unavailable

Now I'm off my hols for a week.

Cheers

re the weblink

It does seem to not link straight to the site, which is odd. If you try and type it in it goes to the page fine, or try www.droverstryst.com

I have spelt it right though, or are my dyslexic eyes deceiving me?

either way, seems like the online entry form once your in is working ok, so good to go ahead and enter

coco

Myself and mini ken are up for this, his first race! what are the different start times for the races? I'd like to keep an eye on him and cheer him on.

He was also asking what colour grade the race is - he seems to be a red route snob now

And can I confirm the route lap is only 5km and 2 laps for juveniles?

great stuff, its shaping up to be another great event.

The start times for the races are 11am (for the ladies, juniors, juveniles and funs) and 1pm (for the senior, masters and vets men) Subject to alter a little, depending on how the first race goes, but definately first one off at 11.

The course will be open on the morning for preriding, average lap time being around 45 mins.

Its just under 5km a lap this year, still has quite a climb on each lap but well worth it for the downhill I would say. For the most part I would say its a red route, theres quite a technical feel to the course, so in places it might be a little black - always has a walkable option if its too hairy!

Two laps for juveniles - three for juniors, and vets, 4 for masters, and 5 for seniors. Ladies do 3.