Easter 2005 will be the 25th anniversary of the first MTB event in the UK. The
first Summit Meeting took place on the Easter bank holiday in 1985. Tim
Gartside and Phil Westerby, who ran the National Off Road Bicycle Association
(UK) and MTB Centre, invited a group of enthusiasts and jounalist to Llanwrtyd
Wells, home of the centre and the Man v Horse race. The purpose was to launch
their national series, the Fat Tyre Five, to talk to Gordon Green about getting
mountain bikes into the Man v Horse for the first time and to appear on the
BBC's Good Morning Britain.
Among the people there were all-round cycling guru Richard Ballantine, his
fellow mountain bike enthusiasts from Covent Garden Cycles, the staff Bicycle
Action and Bicycle magazines, Drew Lawson from Muddy Fox and Gordon Green,
organiser of the Man v Horse.
Overbury's, the Bristol shop which, along with a handful of others including
Bike UK and Two Wheels Good in Leeds helped pioneer the sport in those early
days. Friend Wood, Tim Greenland, Mike Newon and Matt Mills were all sponsored
by Overbury's at some point.
At the time, Overbury's had a typical rag-tag bunch of dedicated mountain bike
fanatics working for them -- Dennis Hill, Crhis Taton, Steve Divine and Sugi --
people who had been bitten by the off-road bug and were prepared to put up with
the derision of 'real cyclists' who couln't cope with fat tyre bikes.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the event, Gordon Green is holding a
reunion event on Easter Weekend 2005. We are hoping that any/all of the
original participants will be able to attend. And needless to say we are
looking for sponsorship at Green Events.
Please contact Gareth Rowlands at Green Events: www.greeen-events.co.uk