Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge

The 22-mile Challenge takes the riders over green lanes and farm tracks, over private land, up and down the beautiful foothills of the Berwyn Mountains and is available to riders of all competence however, it’s not for the faint hearted as there is only about 300 metres of tarmac and probably no more than that on level ground. It’s a challenge but also a wonderful social event for riders of all ages and competence to enjoy.

“Why not put a team together, talk to your colleagues at work, talk to your boss, and if you are the boss, talk to the staff and get pedalling – it’s for a good cause, and it’ll be great fun. All you need is a bike, a 

helmet, and the heart of a lion!”

Please go to 

www.borderland-mtb-challenge.org and sign up.

Electric Bikes are included.

The purpose of the Challenge is the Challenge itself, to have fun, and raise sponsorship donations.  Every competitor is expected to bring in at least £40 in donations.

The Air Ambulance is the main Charity to benefit from the funds raised.

Principal Sponsors for the event are : -

Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge another great success

Over one hundred intrepid riders and Marshals from Borderland Rotary, the organisers, were blessed with wonderful weather for this year’s event as they set out on the 22-mile challenge through the ups and downs of the foothills of the beautiful Berwyn Mountains. You’d think that the E-bikes, which have been welcomed for some years now, would be way out front, but far from it. Naturally powered bikes ridden by staff and friends of one of the sponsors, Mule Cycles beat their previous times – maybe due to the weather as well as their obvious fitness. 

Tim Gray, whose father Brian Gray, started the ride some thirty years ago, said, “It’s great that it’s still going - and seems even stronger than ever. The last two years I’ve been tail end Charlie and helped or mopping-up any stragglers, and it’s been a pleasure and a not to my father”.

Jonathan Jones, who organises the event on behalf of the Club said, “We have been so lucky with the weather this year, it makes so much difference and I noticed that we seem to be attracting riders from further afield these days with entries from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the Welsh coast – word must be spreading. I’d like to thank all the landowners for allowing us across their land, all the volunteer marshals, Linda with the coffee van, the Village Hall, Grum the photographer and last, but by no means least, all those that took part and donated. Thank you all”.

The Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge is on Saturday 11th May and starts from Rhiwlas Village Hall in Shropshire, on the border of England and Wales and should not be confused with the Borderland Mountain Bike Association, a laudable endeavour, but based in El Paso, Texas where the border in question is the one between the United States of America and Mexico. The members of this Association ride the peaks and canyons of the Ferguson mountains and it looks like exciting, desert terrain, which couldn’t be more different to the lush green slopes of the hills and valleys or the foothills of the Berwyn Mountains, near Oswestry, Shropshire. 

This all came to light when a keen mountain biker, Ian Stewart was working in Oswestry and saw a flyer about the Borderland event and decided to Google it to find out more details and was presented with an arid Texan vista, he said, “With the amount of rain we’ve endured this year, I expected the countryside to be a little greener, but then I realised I was looking at the wrong country – in fact, the wrong continent! I soon got the right website though and have now signed up a team and am busy sorting out sponsorship – the Air Ambulance is such a great cause to raise money for, and we must do all we can to keep them in the air. Now, can’t wait till May, we’ll be there in those green hills - near Oswestry, Shropshire not El Paso, Texas”.

It's great that people travel so far – from Yorkshire – possibly not from El Paso, to enter this great challenge, and it would be nice if it is a sunny day.