“Team Simcock” are regulars at the IOM End to End, this year is was Jacqui’s turn while Phil looked after the children. Here’s Jacqui’s account of the event…

The Isle of Man End-to_End mountain bike race (IOM E2E) is always a great event to  take part in due to the challenging climbing, stunning views and fantastic camaraderie of the entrants. It’s unique with almost 50% of the 1400 entries being locals, meaning most have great knowledge of the trail conditions.

Starting off near the front of the large start line I just tried to take the first 15 or so road miles as fast as I could so that when we hit the first big climb, and bottleneck, I was not caught by all the walking riders. Still the domino effect happened and shortly after there were just too many to get by, so I kept my head down and jumped back on as soon as the gradient allowed.

The trails were in great condition from all the good weather so I made fast progress.  The usual undefined wheel-sapping tracks in the plantation have now been replaced by steep fast dedicated MTB tracks which were awesome!  It seemed not too long before the final grind up unto the last stretch of moorland appeared. Unfortunately I’d not drunk nearly enough water and with the heat of the day started cramping. Surely after feeling so strong I was not going  to be stumped by this. Downing as much of the content of my Camelback as I could, I dropped down the gears and spun to eventually make it up the last short sharp killer road climb to the finish.

I am extremely happy with not only finishing 399 out of 1400 entries, but also 5th in the ladies vets cat. A group of us were closely matched so I was particularly proud of my placing.  What a tremendous day!