Both Christo Gallagher and Chris Hutchens were representing Team Wideopenmag at the opening round of the 2018 Scottish Enduro Series at Laggan Wolftrax.
Our man Christo Gallagher gives us his version of events from the first round of this year’s Scottish Enduro Series at the Highland trail centre of Laggan Wolftrax.
Photos by Trev Worsey.
With a later start than previous years, the Scottish Enduro Series finally kicked off with the first round at Laggan Wolftrax. Unbelievably the sun shone and we were treated to dusty trails (for the most part).
Laggan is always a brilliant race, with the classic black run and a full run of the final red descent on the trail centre and some absolutely incredible trails on the brown side. A special shout out to the trail builders for stage three. It was an absolute treat.
This would be the first enduro race of the year that Hutchens and I would get to race together, so it was great to catch up and ride together. Joining us for the day was a squadron of friends to make the day out a real treat.
Moving onto the racing, the sun was beating down on Sunday morning and I was excited to get the first race underway. With practice hampered slightly by a small mechanical, I was little nervous about how I might perform on the day, but I was mainly keen to just get on with the job at hand.
The race was a mixed bag for myself and truly a bit of a nightmare for Hutch. Hutch found himself with a chain that wouldn’t stay on all day after clouting the ground with serious vigour, which evidently led to suboptimal day. Whilst I simply just had one of those days where you go a little bit slower than you’d like and have very silly crashes.
Regardless of the day’s of events, the trails were running exceptionally well and it was just the best day out. It doesn’t get much more fun than a day shredding full runs with all the top Scottish enduro racers.
At the end of the day, in the women’s race Roslynn Newman took the fastest time of the day with Elena Melton taking second and Louise Ferguson in third. These three women were in three different age categories, so is it time for a women’s elite category? Joe Barnes took the win with Lewis Buchanan not far behind and Joe Connell sneaking on the final step of the podium.
For Hutch and myself, the results reflected the day we had. Hutchens managed to secure himself a last place in elite, which was pretty unfortunate, whilst I slotted into 6th place about a minute or so behind Joe Barnes.
With plenty learned from the race, it’s time for a couple of weeks off before we go racing again at the UK Gravity Enduro in Innerleithen. See you there.
Full results from round 1 of the 2018 Scottish Enduro Series can be found on their website.
