The Eastern and Central Regional Champions have been announced!

The genuine Aston Hill wood plaques have been packed and sent out, so there’s now nothing more to do other than say a massive, massive well done to the following - the Eastern and Central Regions Downhill Champs:

Hardtail:

1. Dan Jary
2. Ben Roberts
3. Mark Philpott

Juvenile:

1. Campbell Woods
2. Albert Harvey
3. Daniel Brown

Youth:

1. Phillip Atwill
2. Michel O’Brian
3. Seb Lammas

Junior:

1. Sam Wakefield
2. Jamie Hext
3. Pete Robinson

Ladies:

1. Rebecca Owen
2. Nicky Belton

Masters:

1. Jamie Smith
2. Tristan Tunstall
3. Chris Spooner

Rich is going to be holding a rake and shovel trail clearing session from 9.30am until 12pm on Saturday 2nd October, with a bacon sarnie promised to anyone who helps out.

Drop Rich a line at [email protected] if you fancy a mornings graft in return for some hot grub!

Autumn seems to have arrived if the showers over the past few days are anything to go by. Fortunately for us, it’s a northerly wind over the weekend which, apart from it causing the temperatures to drop a little, will dry the Hill out.

Don’t go expecting it to be dry n’dusty because you’ll be disappointed, but it should be very rideable - we’re not in deep winter just yet! However, ditch the slicks and fit something a little grippier onto the front, just to be sure.

And in honour of Kerrang Magazine’s Whitesnake Wednesday, this is a bit of a classic, complete with the legend Steve Vai on lead and an 80s-tastic drum kit.

Rock on!

It’s lookin’ fine…

Conditions yesterday were mainly dry and look set to stay that way with a bit of drizzle Sunday; get over here before we run out of summer!

Tune for the week? Something that’ll make anyone between 25 and 40 arrive at the Hill totally, totally ready for it.

Fancy a spot of maintenance? OK - you asked for it! The nights have started to draw in and there’s a definite sense of autumn in the air, meaning that it’s nearly digging season.

If you want to be kept up to date with dig dates and goings on, sign up to our digging list - we’ll be sending out emails with future dates, which are set to start soon.

For the uninitiated, trail maintenance is not the romantic picture it’s painted in the mags - there’s no digging for one hour to then ride for five. It’s hard, monotonous and often boring work, which will include a lot of menial tasks (as described on the get involved page). However, the buzz of getting a twilight run over the section you’ve been tidying is hard to beat.

Please note though that these days will be for trail maintenance and not trail building - we have enough trails to look after at the moment without needing anymore!

Still fancy yourself as a bit of a trail god? OK - sign yourself up and clean off your shovel!

Looking like a changeable weekend ahead. However, the trails are holding up well after a decent dry spell, so other than a little grease Saturday they should be fine, and Sunday is looking like conditions will be good - enough moisture from Saturday to make it roosty, but dry enough to leave you with a relatively clean bike!

After the fantastic, hectic time last weekend, relax and groove on over to some thoughtful, classic hip hop.

Another vid, this time by Samuel J Morris.

See if you can spot who wasn’t riding in gloves…

A very neat little film of Sunday’s race with some lovely angles, courtesy of Neil Chapman.

Got a vid you want to see on here? Send a link to [email protected]

September the 5th saw two very important races happen on the downhill circuit. While T-Mo was setting the Canadian mountainside alight with her blitzing run, the second (only slightly less important) event was taking place on this side of the pond - the Eastern and Central Champs at Aston Hill.

After an incredible response online, the race had practically sold out Saturday - the only spaces left were those that had been vacated by a couple of unfortunate practice crash victims, one of whom enjoyed a helicopter ride courtesy of the National Health Service.

Ian Cross - official BDS photographer - has put all of his photos up here and you can check out his website at www.pics4all.co.uk.