Torrential downpours, lightning and even snow lashed the hillsides around Margam Park in South Wales on the Friday before the first ever Men’s Fitness Dirty Weekend, held over the last weekend in November 09. The weather had the effect of turning grass fields and dirt tracks into sticky swamps of mud. Perfect conditions for any fans of off-road racing.

The Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and crowds gathered quickly for the day’s main event: a duathlon of 5k run/23k bike/3k run, taking in some of the finest mountain bike trails in the UK. At the starting gun, 170 competitors formed a close group as they hurled themselves down the dirt path. By the end of the race there would be several hours separating the first and last racers.

The initial run took the group in a long loop through forests, over hills and, of course, through plenty of mud. At the first transition, top British duathlete Lee Rankin led the field but, as a man more used to smooth Tarmac than boggy hills, it was not certain he would maintain his lead position on the bike, especially as he was being chased by the man who had designed the course, Ryan Evans, and who therefore knew where all the obstacles lurked.

As it happened, Rankin managed to increase his lead on the bike and by the time he left the second transition for the 3k run there was noone to challenge his lead and he sprinted home in an amazing time of 1:38:40, five minutes ahead of Evans in second place.

Rankin said, ‘The mud and the steepness of the course made it more difficult than I was expecting, but I knew that if I could hold my lead into the run then nobody would catch me. I’m rubbish in the mud on the bike and whenever my speed dropped to 4mph I’d just get off the bike and start running with it.’ A tactic others might want to learn from.

The rest of the field was very split, and all racers crossed the line encrusted in various degrees of filth, but all with a smile. The toughness of the mountain bike course had caught many competitors unaware, but most promised to return and tackle it again next year.

An overnight deluge meant competitors in day two’s main event, a 46km [IS THAT RIGHT?] enduro made up of two laps of the duathlon bike course, rode straight into churned up tracks. Freezing winds, driving rain and three steep climbs in the first few kilometres made progress slow as racers slid about on loose rock and mud.

Confident riding put Peter Wood into an early lead and the chasing pack was nearly four minutes behind by the time he got halfway through the first lap.

As the race went on his lead got bigger and he swept down the last descent, crossing the line in a zippy 2hours 40minutes 56 seconds, 20 minutes ahead of second place.

He said, ‘The conditions were tough. At times I was cycling blind because of the continual spray of grit but the whole course was rideable. The hardest bit was probably the fire roads – the first 6km – because it’s uphill and stony so you don’t get good traction. The final descent was my favourite bit; it was muddy but I felt I could attack it. My advice for riding this course would be to work on your climbing and descending technique. Try to stay seated on the climbs because you get more traction.

Other riders may have struggled with the conditions but they all had one thing in common with the winner – a mud splattered face that looked strained and determined ten yards before the finish and a look of real satisfaction, possibly with a hint of relief, a few yards after it.

A full set of results can be found here.