iROC™ Race - Gallery

Gallery

iROC Race Event 2009 Images

Pre-2009 Event Images

Matt Brown (a graphic designer at inov-8) enjoying the fast, steep descent down the ‘Wall of Death’. The descent of this former slag heap will form part of both the day and night mountain bike loops and marks the start of the descent from the top of the quarries back down the event centre. This descent utilizes old quarry roads and tracks as well as… well I don’t really want to spoil the surprise!

Matt Brown (a graphic designer at inov-8) cycling along the top former slag heap that has now grassed over in the upper quarry. The biking here is excellent with the old quarry slag providing a hard base but with the grass, which has grown over, making the ride very aesthetic. The panoramic back drop is Wear Valley and each of the 6 iROC™ races enjoy some amazing views of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The venue also includes a deep, dark and dense forest. Currently we are cutting a trail through it that will be used for both the mountain biking and fell running races (and of course the orienteering but this won’t stick to the trail). We have ordered 10km of reflective barrier tape that will be used for marking the courses…. Imagine speeding through here at night, with race route reflecting back off the barrier tape as you weave your way through the forest; its going to be very exciting racing. Matt Brown (a graphic designer at inov-8) is in this photo.

Matt Brown (a graphic designer at inov-8) speeding through that bad ass forest!

Phil Winskill charging down hill as he approaches an orienteering control. The steep hillside between the upper quarry and lower site (where the cement factory used to be) also provides excellent, challenging, terrain for fell running with over 700ft of height gain between the two. In addition there is the open moorland that surrounds the entire site, which lends itself to some fantastic open running over the fells.

MTB Race Route Recce

Deep re-entrants, spurs, terraces and an array of interesting topographical features makes the entire former Lafarge Cement Works ideal for orienteering, which is one of the reasons it was chosen as the iROC™ venue. Phil Winskill approaches a control in this photo.

A hillside awash with former mine workings that have grassed over and now provide complex contour features that are ideal for orienteering. In this sequence Phil Winskill runs into a control on the side of a ruined building. The entire hillside is covered in old mine workings such as this and that doesn’t include the massive features that make up the main quarry. It’ll be and interesting and challenging area for orienteering.

Heather Dawe on iROC MTB Race Route

Heather Dawe cycling up the access road into the quarry; it climbs steeply through this forest from the valley floor (site of the former cement factory) and where the event centre will be based. You couldn’t ask for a better way to gain height on your MTB. It is through a track in this forest that the MTB race route will descend back down again, as will the night fell race.

Once in the quarry there are a series of typically steep, but good quarry tracks that links the various parts of the quarry together… also excellent for mountain biking on. As you can see from the photo much of the quarry site is green, with grass and moss growing back since the end of quarrying in the early 90’s. The skyline in the background is part of the proposed fell race route.

The view from the top of the main quarry looking west along the Wear Valley and towards the Lake District. It’s not hard to see why this area is classified as an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. Absolutely amazing views.

A view of part of the MTB Race Route. The steep, narrow bank on the left of the picture (just above the track) forms part of the outward loop, which then passes behind the photographer (you can see his shadow) and up the former slag heap (now grasses over) on the right, to start the fast descent back down into the valley below.

Heather Dawe charging up the hill/former slag heap (mentioned in the previous photo) that has been landscaped and now has grass growing over it. The MTB race route uses some the amazing features like this in the quarry to create an exciting and varied route with plenty of up and down. There is a good 4x4 track that Heather is following here.

Same hill, Heather just a little further up!

Heather Dawe on the nice flat, level top of the former slag heap. The MTB race route literally drops off the edge in front of Heather to start the white knuckle ride descending back into the valley and event centre.

Heather Dawe about to ride the steep descent that is already nick named the ‘Wall of Death’

Above the quarry is an area of stunning moorland (with some very inquisitive sheep!), and the site of the proposed fell race route for iROC.

Images of Weardale Works Quarry


The signs you always wanted to ignore! iROC gives you unprecedented access to a fantastic venue that is on private land and has not had public access since the 1960’s		The old conveyer belt route (shown here where it crosses the road) that took crushed limestone from the quarry above, down the hill and into the cement factory.		The old conveyer bridge crosses the River Wear and continues into the former cement factory site. Don’t presume that the iROC venue is all ‘old quarry workings’ though. The main quarry site hasn’t been active for years and many of the old slag heaps have been landscaped and are now covered in grass.

Overhead Images of the iROC/Weardale Works Venue


Don’t be deceived by the photo… the event area is on a steep sided hill with over 700ft of vertical decent from the quarry, back down to the event village. The concrete pad in the foreground (where the event village, bike loop and car parking will be) is almost 1km long and back wall of the quarry is over 2km wide!		This overhead photo was taken while the quarry was still active and you can clearly see the cement works at the bottom of the valley… where the iROC event centre is going to be. Pretty much everything you can see in this photo is part of the quarry site and where the iROC adventure race will take place.

The funding is being made available through the Rural Development Programme for England, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, and is managed by One NorthEast in the North East region