Just one week to go until mountain bike festival

Time is running out for cyclists wanting to enter this year’s Eliminator event in Fife.

Exhilarating head to head bike racing is at the heart of the family focused Eliminator Mountain Bike Festival weekend, this year supported by EventScotland – part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, being staged at Parkhill Farm, Newburgh, Fife from Friday, 31 August to Sunday, 2 September.

However, online entries for all the bike races close at midnight on Sunday, 26 August. However there is still limited availability.

Kicking off the festival in style on Friday evening, The Cross Country Eliminator, Scotland’s only cross country mountain bike eliminator tournament, has fast and furious racing from riders of all skill levels battling it out to avoid elimination.

Four riders race side by side on a short, feature-packed cross-country course – approximately two to three minutes per lap. The first two riders to cross the finish line in each race will progress to the next round in a bid to reach the final and ultimate glory.

The now legendary and ‘wacky’ Eliminator Head2Head downhill race, the festival’s signature event, makes a welcome return on Sunday (with practice and qualifying on Saturday).

Cross country whippets and mountain bike enduro specialists are pitched against downhillers and weekend warriors in a series of seeded head to head downhill races on a super-fun dual downhill track with three challenging but smile inducing sections – ‘The Bear’, ‘The Fairmer’s Forest’ and ‘The Crazy Crops’. The first rider to cross the finishline moves into the next round. Once it gets down to the last 16 riders things get a lot more exciting for both riders and spectators, with four-way Head2Head battles!

The Eliminator Head2Head downhill tournament is restricted to a maximum of 64 riders (in an elimination format), aged 12 years old and up; with both male and female participants racing each other. However, 96 riders will get a chance to qualify through a series of timed runs on Saturday.

The riders who do not qualify for the Eliminator Head2Head or are eliminated from the early rounds will be automatically entered into the new Barley Dual Slalom (on Sunday).

This is a thrilling first past the post dual racing elimination tournament through a field of fully-grown Barley. This is a single elimination format so the first rider to cross the finish line progresses to the next round and the loser is eliminated from the tournament.

Aaron Gray, festival organiser at Muckmedden Events, said: ‘The Eliminator is very unique as a mountain bike event. It’s as exciting for the spectators as it is for the riders. It’s such a buzz watching the riders racing elbow-to-elbow through the event village.

‘The compact venue also means you can go for a walk and be at some of the most exciting course sections and challenging features within just a few minutes.

‘It’s also amazing for the riders, with that extra surge of adrenaline you get from lining up at the start line amongst a large crowd of cheering spectators, knowing if your opponent crosses the finish line first, you could be knocked out of the tournament.

‘Since we developed The Eliminator into a family-friendly festival last year, it’s not just about mountain biking anymore. These days it’s as much about the live music, food and drink and all the family-friendly activities off the bike as it is about the bike racing.

‘We had many families attend last year’s festival who’d never been to a mountain bike event before and had a fantastic weekend, without riding a bike! I love that the festival doesn’t just cater for the muddy mountain bikers these days, but also their not-so-muddy friends and family!’

Parkhill Farm, a working farm, will once again be transformed into the magnificent venue for one of Scotland’s most fun-packed, family-friendly festivals, with an all-action activity programme for every age, both on and off the bike. As with its sister festival, Cream o’ the Croft, recently staged at Comrie Croft Trail Centre, The Eliminator is not only a festival of mountain bike racing for all ages, it is also a music festival with fun activities, camping and glamping; and a gourmet, locally sourced food and drink festival, all crammed into one unbelievable entertainment weekend.

The attractions that will keep everyone entertained on Friday, Saturday and Sunday include a fantastic line up of live music (local Fife duo The Coaltown Daisies will headline on Saturday night), live DJ sets, climbing wall, pumptrack, yoga sessions, silent disco, Funky Mountain obstacle course, a round of the Scottish Bike Trial Championships, a farmers market, face-painting, mega water slide, karaoke, storytelling and craft and circus workshops. All non-race activities are included in the price of a festival pass or race entry.

For more information about The Eliminator Mountain Bike Festival and to purchase festival passes and race entries click HERE.