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Challenging conditions, according to the met office a month worth of rain on Saturday night, yet the usual relaxed atmosphere welcomed almost 2000 riders to the Kona Bristol Bikefest 2009. The 12 hour event on Saturday started in wet conditions but due to the amount of riders going over the various sections of trail and due to the weather being stable all through the day the course got dryer and faster with every lap and towards the end the bikes and riders came as clean over the finish line as they had left for their lap 30 odd minutes ago. As in the years before the main crowd puller with more than 1500 riders enjoying the event in teams of four, pairs or in the hugely popular solo categories. After a few years of shaking on the thrown of the winning teams the Bad Ass Bike team sponsored by local bike shop Bad Ass Bikes came through with a clear win in the open team category. The ladies competitive event was won by the Torq Kona ladies team – one of the many Torq Kona teams that would do very well in the various categories on offer. The Female Old Git category was won by Team Purple Bike shed and the Male old Git category by the For Goodness Skaes team. The open male pair category was won by Team My Life Personal, the open female pairs by Team Red Planet Bikes. The Male Old Git pair category was won by Team Crunch, and the two SingleSpeed team categories went to LVIS Singlespeed Superstars and to The Bike Mechanics.co.uk.
Please check www.timelaps.co.uk for the complete results of the 12 hour event. The racing action was followed in typical Bristol Bikefest style with a massive party, live music and DJ tunes early into the morning - ideal preparation for Sundays’ 6 hour event. The smaller brother saw an increase in numbers of riders from 2008 with more than 500 riders getting involved. The categories on offer where the same as on Saturday – only difference was the riding time which was ‘just’ 6 hours or 3 hours if you entered the new novice category. The heavy rain on Saturday night turned the almost by then perfectly ridden in course into a rather wet affair but the sunny conditions and the breeze helped to dry it out with every lap once more. Torq Kona secured a rather dominating win in the competitive male team category with the female open category being won by the Beyond 925 Ladies team. The male pair was won by Team Mountain Trax Yeti Torq and the female pairs by team Torq Kona. The solo categories were won by Danny Goode and Fi Spotwood who both put in a very strong performace. The event village was filled with the latest the industry had to offer giving lots of interested riders the chance to test ride a new machine while still racing the event. Race photos from the weekend can be viewed at www.photo-it.com and www.bristolsport.net. We also had some BBC photographers on site and Gary from the BBC left with the following words: "I travel all over the world for the BBC taking photos including formual one and world cup football, and the Bikefest is the best event by far for atmosphere and the level of enjoyment the competitors are having" Preparations for 2010 are already in the pipeline hopefully improving the camping setup as well as rethinking the coursed crossing / bridge layout and location. More on that in the next few months. Kona Cheddar Bikefest More than 1000 riders enjoyed the successful 2nd helping of the Kona Cheddar Bikefest in 2008 and helped to put the Kona Cheddar Bikefest firmly on the UK events map. The unique location, the demanding yet enjoyable course and the same relaxed atmosphere which you could find at the Bristol event made the Kona Cheddar Bikefest the ideal season roundup. The 2009 event will return with the reworked course and with an even bigger and better event village setup. The course and format will stay the same for 2009 with the 10 hour event being run on Saturday and the 5/3 hour event being run on Sunday. Everybody who took part in the Kona Bristol Bikefest and is also coming back for more at the Kona Cheddar Bikefest is entitled to the Bikefest loyalty gift (worth more than £ 25). All the details on the Kona Cheddar Bikefest including downloadable entry forms and online entry can be found on the updated Bikefest website. So that’s it for now. A big thanks to all the riders and supporters without you we would not have an event. Make sure you join us at the Kona Cheddar Bikefest at the end of September.
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The weather leading up to the event was perfect drying out the trails nicely but then on Friday night it decided to brake the 6 year stint of perfect riding weather and add a further challenging aspect to the Kona Bristol Bikefest 2009. 
The solo categories where once again strongly fought over and some real astonishing lap counts were achieved. Tory Kona rider James Lister managed to complete 20 laps which would have placed him safely in the top 10 of the open male team category. The female open solo category was won by Rickie Cotter from Genesis Bikes / Cytek. 
Please check