More than 1,100 riders took part in this year’s Manx Telecom End2End Mountain Bike Challenge from the Point of Ayre to Port Erin. Some were racing to win, some to achieve personal fitness goals or raise funds for charity. As always, it was a fantastic day and the carnival atmosphere once again showed why the event has become so popular since it was first held in 1996.

Mountain Trax/Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team rider Ben Thomas from Windlesham in Surrey retained his title as End2End champion in a time of 3h 04m 06s. Manx riders Nick Corlett (Manx Mountain Bike Club) and Elliot Baxter (Team Bikestyle) were second and third respectively.

The women’s race was won by Cannondale UK rider Lee Craigie from Inverness in 3h 46m 22s. Helen Jackson from Cumbria was second and Sally Ozanne, also from Cumbria, was third. Behind the leaders were hundreds of competitors of all ages, mostly from the Island but with a significant number of riders from overseas.

After the race, winner Ben Thomas told Manx Radio that the Manx Telecom End2End Mountain Bike Challenge is one his favourite events, and even better than some high profile international world cup races. “We’ve been here for the last three years in a row now and it’s definitely one of my favourite events. We race all around the world, including mountain bike world cups, but it’s always nice to come to events like this. You’d be surprised, but this event is actually better than some of the world cup events we go to. The atmosphere is great, everyone comes out and cheers the riders on. Even today, when it looked like rain was going to hammer it down in the mountains, there were still people out there cheering. It’s awesome.”

Hundreds of riders opted to have action photos of them in the race automatically uploaded to their Facebook accounts thanks to a free Pic2Go service provided by Manx Telecom. Riders who haven’t used this service yet can still opt to have their photos uploaded – just go to www.manxe2e.org where you will also find a link to the results.

Photo - All smiles from these End2End competitor Patrick Cox (number 858).  Courtesy of Simon Park.