Oliver Hayward

Charlie Mcfadzean

Josh Murphy

Tim Wilkey

Stevan Brown

Steve Moatt

Niel Copeland

Maurice Guy

Josse McKenney

Mike Sheldrake

Ross Phoenix

Jojo Blunt

Paul Pritchard

Harvey Richards

Tom Hall

Chris Noble

Bryn Dukes

Martin Taylor

Sam Doody

Tim O’Rourke

Chris Hunt

Darren Orchard

Rose Osbourne

George Mabbitt

Adam Hughes

Will Ward

Jonathan Sharp

Hugo Richardson

Wil Hale

Peter Cashman

Charles Beasley

Paul Dytham

Gareth Davies

Rose Carey

Siobhan Anderson

Eddy Pearce

Chris Brettell

Tom Oliver

Jim Morrison

Dale Warren

Charlotte Bush

Molly Weaver

Joshua O'Brien

Carl Hopps

Pete Barr

Charlie Spokes

Mark Racher

Benjamin Wormald

Edward Hunt

Callum James

Mathew Borghi

Paul Alderson & Mike Cook

Peter Clifton & Franco Ashenhurst

Oliver Young & Natalie Creswick

Lucy Wood & Cordelia Hughes

Ian Carter & Chris Panayiotou

Anthony Elgar & David Elgar

Luke Gilder & Joanne Eaton

Control Car 2

Control Car 1

Day 2

The rain arrived. 

I caught up with a few more riders just before midnight around Shaftesbury. The conditions were dry and you could see the moon through broken cloud. Mike Sheldrake was eating a tub of Ben and Jerries next door to a kebab shop with drunken revellers spilling out onto the street next to him. Mike said was having a good race with the only issue was being a field of cut straw just after CP1 causing havoc to allot of riders. Rose Carey reported having to take apart her rear derailleur at this point to clear the straw. ![Mike Sh](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2zlJIl4b4wVrXiIR2JAWKK/ba484280881555e305f72aa71f38d94b/17471B1C-A018-4A97-BC6B-A1D5D8FAC6D8.jpeg)

Speaking to all the riders, the only thing they could talk about was the weather forecast for the next 48hrs. The mood was apprehensive with some already making exit plans. 

Chris Hunt and Ross Phoenix bumped into each other in the same church porch and when the rain came. They both had a dry and comfortable sleep.  ![church](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7FyRNicNjKU6cx6WRbXBX2/cba55819d434d97e5df7ad5232498b4a/74946F77-4BEF-40A8-B0CD-58A91DAD2315.jpeg)

The riders awoke to a deluge. The rain was constant, with most of it being very heavy. Every rider I saw was sodden to the core, no amount of gore-Tex could keep it all out. The wetness with some overgrown trails that the south of England has seen especially bad this year, cause pain to the riders legs when coupled with the water clinging to the foliage. 

Allot of riders pulled the plug mid morning of the second day, the prospect of another 8 hours of constant rain and then strong 40/50mph winds forecast afterward with some exposed sections was too much for many. First female Rose Osbourne pulled the plug at Blanford Forum after riding a strong race before then being consistently in the top 10 with minimal stopping time.

Maurice Guy was so sodden that he reported when he was eating In McDonald’s a member of staff brought over a wet floor sign in all seriousness and left it next to him. 
![Macy’s ](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3gkW58sHMtzskU2ZUV9VaB/64e14c055cc02cf64d1eece74d51bedc/C0525228-F6D1-43D1-A4D1-896516693EDA.jpeg)

We caught up with JoJo Blunt in Blanford Forum, she had heard of Rose’s departure from the race and knew that as the only female solo rider left in the race she knew she had to finish it. She was pretty chipper  setting off into the heavy rain in her camo rain jacket. ![Jo jo](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/29U3dwcRFwrxE6Q7f2S4F0/8ec47681a482bfe6962db15d59201c51/D8E48E31-F076-4C9B-9324-5194483F7547.jpeg)

By this point the first riders were coming to the end of the route. The order of the top three riders hadn’t changed since CP1. Ollie Haywood continued his storming ride coming as first finisher at 28 hours and 2 minutes, a whole 4 hours ahead of the FKT set last year. An excellent ride from Ollie, when we got back to base he was catching up on some much needed rest as he didn’t nap the whole way round!![Ollie](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/w0y5sNnzDTAj5x9Wyagp4/afbb23dcf21e920834afe7e5b6351516/A029415F-CD0F-45CC-85D1-5BDC1F5703F5.jpeg)

Charlie Mcfadzean came in second still in well in front of last years FKT with a time of 29 hours and 58 minutes. He brought a heavy rain shower up the final climb along with lots of smiles! Charlie had a 10 minute nap in a bus stop after the caffeine tabs were doing nothing. ![Charlie ](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/stRRX5tG7cBMeGAgqLTAE/b06d50b453b182647854110c6d4ca9bf/7D6CADA0-3E19-49B7-BD9A-7D3BAF552442.jpeg)

Josh Murphy came in third with a time of 34hrs and 35 minutes. He got the worst of the conditions up on the exposed sectors of the Purbecks, but it didn’t stop him coming into the finish sounding chirpy. ![Josh](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3FejQzjpnZJkl2hqlwLQKK/aa2ba459b05a30d9f8b98d78771f6fb9/AED826BC-0DDF-4B82-874F-0F4C8F68B930.jpeg)

Tom Hall was on an excellent ride, and was riding into 4th position, but a recurring gastrointestinal issue around the Purbecks with 50 miles left to go leaving him running into bushes causing him to make a sensible call to stop and avoid an accident. 

Tim Wilkey came in as forth finisher just before dusk. The last 50km has been hard on his bike and he stated that he was having to walk down the descents as his breaking performance was next to nothing on the steep stuff. ![Tim](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5UW6hoFWF9vRSO42Q2XduW/e27d6bd9074ad0831d342270aca9b092/220DD5B9-9C92-47E5-9E3F-DDD84867799E.jpeg)

The rain might have eased but the fog and wind has really picked up and riders have been reminded to ride within themselves overnight as even in summer hypothermia in a depleted state is entirely possible. The race organisers obviously wanted this race to be a challenge, but this level of exposure was not an element that was likely. Chapeau to all riders out there still. 

The rest of the top 10 is as follows:

* 	5th Stevan Brown 
* 	6th Steve Moatt
* 	7th Niel Copeland (Plastic Free)
* 	8th Maurice Guy
* 	9th Josse McKenney 
* 	10th Mike Sheldrake 

First pair Paul and Mike came in the middle of the night with enough energy to lift the trophy! Congratulations guys. Peter and Franco arrived 4 hours later. 

At time of writing first Female Jojo Blunt is 21 miles from the finish and There’s only 4 solo riders still out there, and 2 pairs. 

- Ben Wormald @benworm @oldchalkway

Dorset Divide Day 2. Rain.

An early start with a windy night meant some riders reported not sleeping much during the night at the designated campsite. With a scheduled depart at 0600hrs from Portland Bill, a few rider mishaps (forgotten GPS unit, and lost tracker) delayed proceedings, but with both issues rectified swiftly the riders got underway at 0630hrs. 

A fast start to the race this morning, with the riders heading west into a strong headwind. Along exposed terrain on the Jurassic coast a number of groups formed up the towering cliffs that line this southern edge of England. Some riders report getting caught up in Dorset traffic jams (cattle on their way to dairy in the road), and others report the chalky flint causing a few issues on the tyres. ![Dorset Traffic jam](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1Sq9JPMvbp6vzBYMxYPJTW/2a424220d6fb1cd4baac30224360071b/F592FE6A-F381-42F6-819A-7E5864B17224.jpeg)
![Flint causing issues.](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/38s1PpivphNHxWKx4NCrDB/21803bcda59782ec6219f2789cb99465/523534D8-E01A-40E1-95FA-C143B340FF79.jpeg)

CP1 is under the Cerne Giant which is a 55 metre nude depiction of a male with a large erect phallas and wielding a large club, carved into a chalk hillside. The front riders were not distracted and were all well ahead of the FKT set in last years blistering heat. 

I caught up with the front 3 riders atop Gold Hill in Shaftesbury at the 140 mile mark, famous for being in the Hovis advert and featuring on this years Pan Celtic Race, as well as being on the Old Chalk Way bikepacking route. It’s a quintessentially English setting, with a steep, greasy cobbled climb up to the town centre. Not much fun to ride up, but at least it’s short. ![Josh Murphy going up Gold Hill](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2GAaeb48wdYxGpSzSX2QG8/ae689e41cfe2b7977b8c86603cb4bb23/1A88F059-4E52-4CE9-8420-A84F35912504.jpeg)

Ollie Haywood’s (@ollie141) saddle bag snapped In the first 10 kilometres, meaning that he’s had to put in his rucksack reducing the amount of food he can carry. It didn’t seem to slow him down much and he was the first to CP1 at Cerne Abbas and continued to stay in the lead. On a particularly thorny section Ollie’s legs have taken a beating, with red scratches all over his exposed legs. After taking a slightly cheeky/very clever route up Gold Hill Ollie says his plan for the night is to “plod on”, doesn’t look like much plodding to me. He’s currently a couple of hours ahead of the FKT set last year in the heat. Ollie rode off with a massive pack of Babybells in his hydration vest and told me that they go down easy when they are slightly warm. Ew. 

![Ollie Haywood in Shaftesbury](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5sftrXiVXTemSJoJVUmM76/54b09549a86ec40619be99affbcc104a/406041B2-785C-4C73-8F00-E40E66959B17.jpeg)

![Ollie’s Legs.](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/7CKnuxoIW5XveVLtVdNt1m/2e02d29820b056f6416ae3d076eaa9f8/259403DD-A621-41AA-B88D-4F73ED4936A1.jpeg)

![Said Babybells](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6GHX5Ud0h9wJ5sJbFNTsfA/c020428fdd103063d6e2be15728d3774/E8A052A0-1892-4676-943B-33E914DE3B16.jpeg)

![Ollie’s clever/cheeky (but legal) route up Gold Hill. ](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5l4VHueK9DjPhiomjfm9zv/981c2c399f9fc585530eec8467a63d58/62F5C212-6653-42A4-B4DA-A0FBB8CE4433.jpeg)

Despite the recent rain the trails were damp not sodden, two of the front riders report falling off at low speed on road sectors with second place Charlie Mcfadzean’s (@oneroad_oranother) GPS mount snapping meaning his GPS unit now lives inside the weatherproof mobile phone case, he’s worked out that if he turns the GPS upside down he can still charge it, let’s hope he doesn’t take a wrong turn. Charlie’s suspension fork lockouts have also packed up meaning the road sections are extra squishy. Charlie left in good spirits with a smile on his face. ![Charlie scoffing a sandwich. ](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5dDLYHakSg3RTlo0Jg9RWI/0a39f33af367091adad9d44c962ffe96/CCD008D8-C273-49C0-8B08-34D869D21B0C.jpeg)

Third place Josh Murphy (@joshfmurphy) was found purchasing a quadruple espresso which he assured me was for the night too. Josh’s photos of previous races/rides he’s done (SMR/Lakeland 200) are beautiful and he presents them in zines, but this year at the DD he hasn’t brought a camera as he’s here to race at the pointy end. Josh looked strong riding into the night. ![Josh with his quadruple espresso gets ready for the night. ](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5ZRjxKh8v8zWkeDll60NzA/a282393276325a516f8c752841bada4e/490CAAE9-E02A-43D0-BEED-38604653496C.jpeg)

First female Rose Osbourne (@roseosborne1) is currently riding strong though the road sections of North Dorset and will make it to Gold Hill around dusk. She caught up with race director Harry and was all smiles with an efficient stop at CP1. 
![Rose Osbourne](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/4IB0188VeXMhbySWyANyTW/f29acd49ac1f9acc402aa216be2b798a/6260F8D6-C77A-4F67-92D6-046E69465346.jpeg)

Scratch report: 
- Cap 50: Charles Beasley has made his way to Yeovil train station, whilst scratching in whilst in the top 5 riders.
- Cap 49: Chris Brettell. 
- Cap 25: Gareth Davies. 
- Pair 1: Anthony and David Elgar 
- Pair 3: Ian and Chris had some serious tyre issues and had to call it a day. 

Weather looks frankly abysmal tomorrow all day with double tears forecast from 0500hrs to 1900hrs with a bit of wind will make some of the exposed sectors around Purbecks a challenge. Expect to see some changes and mishaps tomorrow, and maybe a few scratches. Saturday looks mixed with plenty of heavy rain about but with 50mph (80kph) wind which could test the resolve of some of the mid to late pack. 

- Ben Wormald @benworm / @oldchalkway

Dorset Divide Day 1

Dorset Divide 2023: Dorset is the home of the Jurrasic coast. Well-known for its beautiful landscape and coast line this 320 mile route takes in its iconic places and best kept secrets! Although the landscape may be breathtaking so is the route, with lots of climbing and challenging off road sections.

Dorset Divide 2023 gravel bikepacking UK South Coast

Dorset is the home of the Jurrasic coast. Well-known for its beautiful landscape and coast line this 320 mile route takes in its iconic places and best kept secrets! Although the landscape may be breathtaking so is the route, with lots of climbing and challenging off road sections.

Dorset Divide 2023

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