- Exciting routes planned for Jersey 2015 mountain bikers.
- Events to take place at People’s Park and Jubilee Hill.
- Watch a video of the cross-country route, from the handlebars of one of Jersey’s medal hopes, below.
THE high-octane sport of mountain bike racing will arrive in the heart of the Island this summer, with People’s Park set to stage the NatWest Island Games criterium.
Describing the event as ‘bespoke to the Island Games’, organiser Sean Le Breuilly believes the St Helier-based park will provide the perfect amphitheatre for what should be a quite fantastic spectacle.
Set to take place on the evening of Wednesday 1 July, Islanders will be able to spectate for free as over 70 riders race around the 1 kilometre circuit for the right to claim Jersey 2015 medals.
Passing over, round, under or through a series of obstacles, competitors will race en masse in either the men’s or women’s event.
Although Le Breuilly says mountain bike criterium courses are difficult to design, he expects the event to be a major draw for spectators.
‘When looking for a venue, I set myself the target of creating a spectacle,’ he said.
‘We had the option of Val de la Mare but it wouldn’t have been much of a spectacle. If we want to expose our sport to the people of Jersey, we have to put it where the spectators are going to be.
‘I decided on People’s Park and I feel it’s the perfect place. We’ll let spectators get as close as possible to the racing and it’s going to be really fast and furious.’
Discussing the course, which will take riders from the lawn up towards the Jersey Bowling Club’s greens using a series of ramps, before sending them back down towards the main park, he added: ‘There’s so little information because they’ve only run criteriums at the last few Games. We never race them here and they’re even very rare in England.
‘The course will use some of the natural technical aspects that are there already, but will allow man-made aspects as well.
The women’s race is scheduled to begin at 5.30 pm, with the men’s event set to start at 7 pm.
Moving on to discuss the mountain bike cross-country, Le Breuilly believes Jersey 2015 organisers have provided competitors with a suitably challenging course.
With no permanent cross-country course in the Island, Le Breuilly started his search for a suitable venue almost 15 months ago. Having found what he believed to be the perfect location – to not just provide an excellent 3 km circuit but also flaunt the best Jersey has to offer – the air traffic engineer set to work establishing permission from land owners, before clearing vegetation.
The course is just south of Jubilee Hill, between the road and the airport perimeter fence – and will provide riders with the perfect challenge, according to Le Breuilly.
‘We took the bold decision to make a new course and we spent 12 months creating it from scratch, which has been epic,’ he explained.
‘It’s not necessarily the most technical or testing course but for the Island Games, it’ll show off the Island, overlooking St Ouen’s Bay.
‘I started by doing boundary checks and talking to land owners, before I walked the land … it was like a jungle. We slowly cut back the vegetation but it was an uphill struggle. It’s been hard and I did think “have I made the right decision?” but now it’s done it looks great and will be here afterwards, which will create an excellent legacy.
‘We have a top flat section, and we’ve got technical aspects on the sides, like off-camber descents, runs into woods and steep uphill climbs. We’re also supplementing it with some man-made features – for example, we’re sculpting the land with a drop-off and a rock garden … it should be a good course.’
He added: ‘We’ve also thought about spectators. There should be excellent viewing from the top of the course, or across the road on the other side of the valley. We’ve got designated parking areas very close to the course as well.’
Jersey’s riders have already had the chance to try out the new circuit, at a Caesarean Cycling Club race on 18 February and Le Breuilly says the feedback he’s received has been extremely positive.
‘They liked it,’ he continued.
‘It’s a little more severe than what they’re used to but it’s what we need. It’s effectively a course of two halves – technical riders will excel in one area and non-technical will excel on other parts of the track. It should even the field out and the best all-rounders will be the ones who win.’
The cross-country races will be contested in St Peter on Monday 29 June, with the women set to start at 11 am and the men beginning at 2 pm.
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