The Travers
28th September – Final Round S3 Championship
The Travers is one of the UKs oldest national trials but in recent years has suffered from a noticeable decline in entries, last years event only having forty two entries. The event is run as a Newcastle DMC trial but for many years assistance has been provided by members from all of the clubs in the North East Centre. A meeting was held earlier this year to consider what changes were required to ensure the event continues.
The following changes are being incorporated into this years event.
START
The start of the trial has been moved to Allenheads Village, this location breaks up the longest stretch of roadwork in the event and also offers accommodation at the start. The Allenheads Inn can be contacted on 01434 685200
COURSE
Following feedback received last year it has been accepted that the trial has become too difficult for many riders who would like to take part. Whilst two courses are provided, the hard course is too difficult for all but a handful of riders and genuine clubman riders have struggled on the easier route.
Two changes are being made to address the issue of severity.
The trial still needs to take marks off the top riders who compete however it is not thought necessary to have as many big steps in the event. Such sections rarely trouble the best riders but are intimidating for those further down the results.
The second change is to significantly reduce the severity of the clubman course so that many more riders can have an enjoyable day. Its not so long ago that the Travers was one of the best attended clubman nationals in the country.
It is hoped that the above changes will see an increase in entries. John Hutchinson from Newcastle club is looking at some new groups of sections that can be incorporated this year and sees this year as merely the first year of changes to return the Travers to being a popular event.
We hope to see some of the riders who have stopped attending in recent years return for this year. If you have never ridden the trial before, it’s a single lap trial of about 35 miles including roadwork set in Weardale and Northumberland. Entries are now open and the entry form can be found on the Trialscentral calender.