Colwall Rotary Mayhem Riders Tony Brook, Russell Horton, David and Katie Watson and John Remmington battled through wind, rain and mud to finish in the top third of teams completing in the 24hr Mountain Mayhem at the weekend.

Over 1850 solo riders and teams took part in the world's biggest mountain bike festival in the scenic splendour of Eastnor deer park.
The professional teams were aiming to complete up to 30 circuits of the 10 mile course through woods, twists and turns,up steep hills and down techically challeging steps and jumps.

John sprinted Rotary Riders into the Le Mann stlye start at 2.00pm on Saturday but immediately ran into trouble with a puncture. Tony took the second circuit, followed by Katie and then David, into an increasingly gloomy evening.
While Russell needed his home made kreig lights for his session, in the process almost blinding dozens of the other competitors, Alan Bridge performed sterling service on the BBQ, feeding the assembled Club supporters

Tony had the worst of it when the heavens opened shortly after he set off at 11pm and he took nearly 3 hours to get round.
As he told me afterwards "It was hell out there - I had to stop every 20yds to clear the mud from the bike." 

Conditions were so bad that, like most teams, our Rotary Riders took a break for a couple of hours until Sunday dawned and John resumed our relentless charge.

Midday saw Russell pounding around again, while Katie started our 12th and final circuit before Russell finished, so that the team could cross the line just after 2.
"This is perfectly legal" said David. "Katie's not competitive, but I was able to persuade her to go out for one final time".

What a spectacle! What a triumph! What a battle over multiple adversity!  Just proves that not all Rotarians are old farts!

And lots of dosh for our hospice charities - RESULT!

Fantastic team. Fantastic club      www.colwallrotary.org.uk