[Closed] Battle in the bowl, cx & open

Yeah, rigid singlespeed 26" wheel MTB. I don't expect to win.

Contemplating but cost seems a bit steep. £28 for a 2 hour event, seems to be normal sort of price for road and the more recent gravel sportive types, but they're substantially longer. And yesterday's Gorrick was max £34 but for a 6-7 hour event.

looks good but conflicts with another event for me. Otherwise would have been tempted

15% discount til midnight ysty (now expired), good vfl compared to say 10k run or 40min - 1hr cross race. Big venue - great for spectators

@theotherjonv - Hi, I'm one of the event organisers. We've tried to keep the ticket price consistent with the market. A one hour cross race is typically around £15, so ours at two hours is consistent with that. We have our site and other costs to factor in too; running a road or gravel sportive on public routes doesn't really compare price wise to using private land for a race, and this is a huge venue. It hosts a 30,000 person music festival in the summer!

We want to develop this event into something more than just a race in the longer term, so the plan is that in future, your ticket won't just be paying for your race, but for a full day of racing, spectating and other activities. We're not going to get there in a single bound though, so this year, our focus is getting the event off the ground and putting on a great race. That's why we've offered a lot of discounts out to motivate people and get them supporting the event.

I'm prepared to put our money where my mouth is there too, so I've set up a discount code for Singletrack forum users. The code STWFORUM will get you a 15% discount if you enter by June 1st. I hope that helps to sway you, and please do spread the word. We think this event can really build into something special, and we'd love to be able to fulfil that potential.

[url= http://battleinthebowl.cx/ ]battleinthebowl.cx[/url]

I asked this on the other thread as well but what are the race timings?

A one hour cross race is typically around £15, so ours at two hours is consistent with that.

@trailbreak-Martin. Think it's a great idea and an amazing venue, can imagine a mini festival with racing, music and camping etc. Could even have a short course cross race in the night with lots of heckling! Count me in for next year!

Hmm, what gear for a 26" wheeled singlespeed mtb... I've just bought a 36 front ring so 36x16 is an option instead of the usual 32x16.

I like the idea of the open class, website seems a bit heavy on the competitive side of things for a 'fun' event, but I might see if I can do it.

I guess this is the sort of thing we're going to start seeing in the UK as people try to come up with an anglicised version of "Gravel Racing" one part CX league one part XC plus some weirdos on fat bikes... For future years, do you think the venue might lend itself to some sort of 12/24 mixed endurance type race?

Short 4 mile laps and regularly coming back through an arena type area would make for a good event hopefully with lots of spectating opportunity...

Short 4 mile laps

Not sure that'd be great for a 12 or 24!

It definitely sounds like it's go the potential to become an interesting event. Having seen the course that they managed to come up with in MK Bowl in the Central League CX races, this looks like it could be a huge version of that which would be ace 😀

Dunno, what's mountain mayhem? ~8mile laps? So you'd get double the lap count and riders passing through more frequently, is that so bad?

@cookeaa - Don't know if we'd go for a 12/24 but we're open minded to how it develops. I think right now we see it more that we'd add some extra races and activities (maybe a gravel sprint competition, and fun things like that) for you to do as a 'sideshow' to your main race, to make a nice busy day of it. Definitely things that will make it a good day for both spectators and racers.

Thanks for the response Martin - wasn't meant to be a criticism, per se, just a comment in comparison. Wasn't aware CX races were so expensive so yours does stand in comparison there, my experience was more with MTB events.

I ahve posted to my (road) club's FB page, and will see if there's interest. I'm unlikely to make a long trip on my own but if a few of us want to do it and make a day of it as you say, then I'll let you know.

Good luck with it, certainly a nice concept and area!!

Thanks Jon, appreciate that!

That's me entered the Open race. Looks like fun. And 23.50 with the STW discount above actually seems pretty reasonable to me.

The Holiday Inn, Winchester is conveniently closely as well.

That was a whole heap of fun, especially the long grass sections given the rain.

Can't wait to see the results, and will be back next year, albeit it with something slightly smaller than a 46 on the front of a 1x...

Yeah me too back next year.. great long course

Yep, was fun. 36:16 singlespeed was fine.