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.

Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge a great success

Glorious weather attracted around one hundred riders to the Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge this year, which was held on Saturday at Rhiwlas Village Hall, near Oswestry.

“It was wonderful to see so many keen mountain bikers set off into the beautiful green hills of the Berwyn’s with the sun streaming down on them - and not a cloud in the sky”. Said Jonathan Jones, who organises the challenge for Borderland Rotary Club. “We were so lucky with the weather, and it was good to see the familiar faces of many returning riders as well as welcoming many new ones.”

The 22-mile challenge has been on the mountain bike calendar for more than thirty years and still draws in big crowds to enjoy the scenery, the coffee, the homemade burgers as well as the cycling and the money raising potential. The event has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity over the years, and this year looks like no exception.

Tim Gray, owner of Dairi-Pak in Ruyton-XI-Towns, sponsors the event and said, “It’s just such a wonderful events, old friends meet up year after year and make new friends on the way. My father sponsored the Borderland Challenge from the very beginning and in the early nineties I entered regularly but I was of course much younger then. I’m glad that the company can still sponsor the event, but things have moved on, and I now ride ‘tail-end-Charlie’ on an electric mountain bike, but I still love it and it’s still quite a challenge!”.

Tim is right, it is a great event and long may it continue.