Britain longest established downhill race is the Onabike Cup. First
contested in 1994 when it was won by Steve Kitchen now of Animal fame! This
year’s event is sponsored by Cloud Cover Instant Shelters and Nike 6.0. Part
of the Nike Killing It series. The Rider of the Day wins a Killing it
Certificate and loads and loads and loads of Nike goodies!
Back in 1994 the course started with a flat 300m pedalling section out
through open moorland before joining into the part of the Ashcombe Estate
that we now use. The race finished indoors in the barn with a hay-bale
chicane as you entered which caught Onabike Cup out many very tired riders.
The bikes have changed over the years . Back in 1994 only 4 riders turned up
on full suspension bikes; as they were a real novelty back then; winner
Steve Kitchen was one of those, onboard a Mongoose Amplifier.
The race has been held at Ashcombe every year and was originally a one off
downhill race. Many people were sceptical that we could get anyone to enter
a downhill only race when for a similar entry fee you could race all around
the estate and cycle uphill aswell! The doubters were wrong and a field of
around 140 riders were hand timed by rally stop watches and the times then
manually worked out!
The race was a success and more downhill races followed and in 1996 the
Onabike Cup was the final round of the South West downhill series; our last
race of the year. It is still our last race of the year and has been the
Christmas race at Ashcombe for the last six years; but as Ashcombe is now
too busy to accommodate us at Christmas the event has a new home Avill Ball
near Dunster.
Defending Champion Ashley Mullane, the only man to win the Cup 3 times is
among the favourites to retain the Cup, but with the like of UCI Junior
World Cup Champion Josh Bryceland already on the entry list his work will be
cut out.
The Full list of winners is
1994 Steve Kitchen
1995 Stefan Gleed
1996 Ollie Thomas
1997 Andy Barron
1998 Rich Warner
1999 Symon Folland
2000 Symon Folland
2001 Dan Atherton
2002 Gee Atherton
2003 Tom Tuckey
2004 Ashley Mullane
2005 Ashley Mullane
2006 Ashley Mullane
2007 ???????
14th ANNUAL ONABIKE CUP
