Rather than hang onto the bad news of the 2020 Fort William World Cup being cancelled, we picked our list of the best things from the event’s history.
CV19 has put paid to UK mountain biking’s only downhill World Cup and second longest running World Cup venue this year. Rather than mope, we’re championing everything that’s great about the Fort William World Cup.
British riders up at the split
You can be anywhere near Nevis Range on finals day, and when any one of the plethora of British riders in attendance at the Fort William World Cup blips green at the split, that information will be greeted by a wall of noise that gets ever louder the closer to the finish line they get.
The higher that rider has qualified, the louder that din will be on the Sunday.
Those finals runs
Fort William has given us some classic World Cup downhill moments when a rider gets it all right, or all wrong. Finals day is a different beast and that last run down the mountain can bring the best and worst out in a rider.
Chris Kovarik’s 14 second winning margin at the first ever race at Fort William is a hard one to beat, but then there’s Ruaridh Cunningham’s home World Champs win, Gee and Rachel Atherton winning on the same weekend, Gwin’s explosion on the top corners last year and Peaty’s win in 2005 to name but a few…
The woods
At some point in the Scottish Highlands, an open hill turns into forest. A trail will turn from manageable rock, to unruly, slithery dirt, often with a copious amount of water within or running along its surface. This causes challenges for riders and track builders alike.
Plenty a solid run has been snuffed out in the woods, and none more so than in 2017 when the dry qualifying and A OK from everyone at the manager’s meeting saw a deluge turn the woods into a rutted mess. You didn’t see Minnaar complain though. Why? Probably because he had the skills to get through feet up, that’s why.
Scottish riders on track
Scotland plays host to the UK’s only (current) World Cup, now the second longest running event in World Cup downhill history, and has produced some very fast riders that have done battle on the slopes of Aonach Mor.
Greg Williamson, Reece Wilson, Kenta Gallagher, the Brothers Kerr lead the current charge at World Cup level, and you can be sure they’ll get more noise in their direction all weekend.
Fancy dress
The Fort William World Cup seems to attract a much higher degree of fancy dress than most bicycle races, and it would seem, World Cups too. Maybe it’s the midgies, the cold and the rain makes folk want to throw on a few more layers of nylon.
If you can imagine it, someone has probably come dressed as it for the Fort William World Cup.
Greg Minnaar being the man to beat
Fort William is a home from home for the South African GOAT. His first World Cup here was back in the early 2000s and started what would be a fairly consistent clean up of wins and podiums on this track.
Nobody has won more Fort William World Cups than Greg Minnaar and few even get close.
Photo by Rae McKenzie.
Scottish granite
Scottish granite is a fine igneous delight when you’re not trying to negotiate it at World Cup speeds. This unforgiving volcanic rock takes no prisoners, be it body or bike, and that’s before you’ve taken a foray off course.
The Fort William track of old, pre-2007, was a real beast of a bike destroyer, and while the track has been cut to the bedrock in many places, don’t let appearances deceive you.
Tired riders tackling the motorway
Fancy trying to hurl yourself over some massive tabletops at warp speed having just blown out of your back end for four and a half minutes? You do? Well then the ‘Motorway’ section at the base of the hill will look to steal any remaining energy you have left.
For anyone with even a hint of schadenfreude, the motorway is a place to watch some almighty nosedives.
British Juniors rising to the task
While it might make perfect sense for British riders to go fast on home turf, the Junior category has long been the proving ground for many a future World Champion. British Juniors always go well at Fort William and get to shout loud on the World stage as a result.
Luke Mumford, a privateer, was a whisker of toppling Commencal/Vallnord’s Thibaut Daprela last year, Jamie Edmondson rackd up a fourth the year previous with Kade Edwards just beating him to the silverware. Matt Walker would stand atop the Junior podium in 2017, a full five seconds ahead of none other than Finn Iles.
Mick Hannah’s Scotland jump suicide
Mick Hannah has made it a trademark of his to throw a massive suicide no-hander over the last jump of any track in his finals run. While this is impressive in it’s own right, the ‘Scotland’ jump at the end of the motorway is hefty, and comes at the end of the best part of five minutes of abuse.
Nothing beats looking up from the pits and seeing the veteran Aussie not holding onto his bicycle over this gap.
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