Thousands filled the streets for Fat Face Night Ride 2007

The Event

Fat Face treated over 5000 spectators to an awesome display of downhill mountain bike racing over the weekend which brought the historic streets of Edinburgh alive. This was the last stop for the Fat Face Night Series 2007 which has included skiing, mountain boarding, surfing, wake boarding and wind surfing. 

The streets and steps of Edinburgh were transformed into a world class down hill route and 300 eager riders turned up on Saturday raring to go and ready to race. The cyclists flew down racing the clock at top speed. The route began at Edinburgh Castle and riders tackled steep steps, a bridge constructed for the event, further steps, alleyways and jumps. The final home straight presented the riders with dust, dirt and a car to jump over!

Practice and seeding races took up most of the day and then began THE WORLDS 1ST URBAN DOWNHILL RACE AT NIGHT. Once the sun had set over Edinburgh it was time for the competitors most important run of the day. Every vantage point was taken as the streets were filled with spectators lining the whole length of the course. 

The Fat Face sponsored race attracted all the big names, including newly crowned world champion Ruaridh Cunningham (flying the flag for Scotland) and the Atherton Family, to this unique environment, which introduced Downhill Mountain biking to a huge amount of people for the first time and increased its fan base along the way.

The title and fastest time of the day went to Gee Atherton 47:62 seconds!  Gee said “The course worked very well, it’s the first time I’ve ridden like this and all the flashes made it very interesting for the final run”  “The format worked well and truly displayed to a lot of newbie’s what down hilling is all about”.

Quotes

Events Manager Ian Williams from Fat Face said “What an incredible way to

finish the Fat Face Night Series 2007 with another world first – the Night Ride Urban Downhill (aka Downtown). Seeing the thousands of spectators cheering and shouting the riders on, with Edinburgh Castle as the back drop is an image that will be hard to beat. Already looking forward to next year!!”

Race Director Chris Roberts said “I’m really stoked with the event. The Police counted between 5 to 6000 people came out to watch, the atmosphere was electric, the cheers and shouting from the massive crowd underneath the bridge was amazing everyone really getting involved with the event and having a really great time.

Notes to editor -

Sponsors

A prize pot of £3000  was up for grabs for the pro riders, plus thousands of pounds of prizes available for all the age categories. Thanks to a large number of sponsors providing prizes for the age categories. Local bike shop 'The Bike Chain' provided on site maintenance for the competitors as well as co sponsoring the racing. 

Results

 Men’s Elite – FAT FACE      

1^st Gee Atherton

2^nd Dan Stanbridge

3^rd Scott Beaumont

Women’s elite - FAT FACE

1^st Rachel Atherton

2^nd Tracey Moseley

3^rd Helen Gaskell

Men’s Expert – FUNN COMPONENTS

1^st Richard Cheetham

2^nd Will Rowlands

3^rd Michael Gray

Men’s Junior – NITERIDER

1^ST Ruaridh Cunningham

2^nd Alex Bond

3^rd Dan Coggan

Men’s Master – CHAIN REACTIONS

1^st Nigel Page

2^nd Glyn O’brien

3^rd Lance Harland

Men’s Veterans – 661

1^st David Carr

2^nd Kevin Clark

3^rd Peter Marcroft

Men’s Senior – KONA

1^st James Norton

2^nd George Jones

3^rd Andrew Woodvine

Men’s Youth – MADISON

1^ST Bernard Kerr

2^nd Todd Kearney

3^rd Kyle McIntosh

Men’s Juvenile – SWEETSKINZ TYRES

1^st Mark Scott

2^nd Lewis Buchanan

3^rd Andrew Mabon

Hardtail - MTB DIrect