Welcome to Quick Fill. 

Here it is, Ironman! This weekend is unique. It’s a great one to look forward to, but it’s a bit somber at the same time as it’s the final event of the season. However, Ironman is the perfect way to cap off a season. With a huge number of racers, spectators, vendors and no short supply of good times, Ironman is an amazing event. This year promises to deliver much more of the same and we’ve got a great racecourse to top it all off too. 

Now before we go too much further, we issued a Competition Bulletin specifically for Ironman. Below is the exact wording of that Competition Bulletin: 

“Due to the size of the crowd it is necessary to limit the number of riders going up Ironman Hill for the Saturday 1 PM ATV Pro Race. Only Pro and “A” level riders will be permitted to go up Ironman Hill. Accordingly, the following classes will be REQUIRED to go to the left around Ironman Hill.  

College B (16-21)
Junior B (22+)
Vet B (30+)
Senior B (40+)

Any “B” rider attempting Ironman Hill will be penalized ONE LAP. Directional signage will be placed at the bottom of the hill directing “B” riders to the left. 

This restriction applies to the ATV Pro Race only. The 10 am ATV Amateur Race and the 10 am Bike Amateur Race will NOT go up Ironman Hill. All classes for the Sunday 1 PM Bike Pro Race will go up Ironman Hill.” 

We completely understand that this is not an ideal scenario and we do understand your concerns. However, with the size of the crowd spectating the hill and the difficulty level of the hill, it is incredibly dangerous to allow a large number of ATVs to attempt the hill. For a motorcycle, if a rider were to fall on the hill the bike simply just falls over. On a quad, it’s very dangerous to have a full size machine rolling back down the hill towards a large crowd. 

The majority of Mud Fleas are quick on their feet but it only takes one split second of letting your guard down and that tumbling quad can spell trouble. So instead of cutting the hill out completely, which we know you would be even more upset about, this is the solution we’ve arrived at. And we realize it’s difficult to police this but there will be GNCC officials stationed at Ironman Hill and its very easy to look at helmet number stickers and class color stickers to determine if someone is in violation of that rule. 

Additionally, please keep in mind that NOBODY other than authorized personnel are allowed on the motocross track. Please stay off the motocross track this weekend! 

Let’s move on! Friday will see Fantic eMTB racing and if you’re racing, then you’re in for a real treat. The eMTB course is the best one yet and I actually spent around two hours with a leaf blower today getting all the leaves and sticks off the trail. If you’re on the fence about racing, get off that fence and get signed up because it’s going to be a good one! 

Also, don’t forget that we’ve got some top musical talent this weekend with the Davisson Brothers Band on Friday night and Easton Corbin on Saturday night. We’ve also got Trick or Treating from 5:30pm-6:30pm on Saturday, followed by a Costume Contest at Team Faith. This will add to an already action-packed Ironman weekend, so check out the weekend schedule HERE for a full list of what to expect! 

As for the racecourse, well we ended up changing things up a little bit this year. The start is once again in the big cornfield but you’re actually heading away from the motocross track off the start. This means you'll eventually end up running a portion of the motocross track backwards but we've actually reshaped the jumps so you don't have to worry about dropping off what should be the take-off of a jump. You’re starting a little before the one-mile mark and off the start will head to a section of woods and skip the big cornfield section. You won’t see the one or two-mile mark off the start. That leads you into a mix of tight trail, fast trail and a field section all the way to Ironman Hill. The PM races will head up the hill and over to the culvert under the road which brings you to the three-mile mark. 

There’s a tighter section that brings you to the four-mile mark where you’ll pop into another cornfield section for just a bit before dropping into some flowing woods and into the cornfield again. You’ll pop back into a section of woods at the five-mile mark and there’s a good medium speed section that will have some really fun ups and downs all the way to the six-mile mark. That takes you to some slightly faster trail over the seven-mile mark, where you’ll drop down beside Ironman Hill and cross the creek. 

On the other side of the creek, there’s a good tight section that leads you to the eight-mile mark where you’ll drop back down along the creek and into a fast section to Twin Hills. Once you get to the top of Twin Hills, you’ll come out onto the Godzilla section of the motocross track and drop down the hill and cross back over the creek to the nine-mile mark. After the nine, the bike races will split off into some single track to the ten-mile mark while the ATVs will drop down into a rocky ravine. The bike-only section adds a little bit and comes back to that same ravine.

Once you’re out of the ravine, you’ll have some faster trail to the two-way in the motocross pro pits. That takes you to the 11-mile mark and into some really cool field sections with a little creek crossing in the middle. You’ll then drop back into the woods and the bikes will split off to another single-track section while both tracks lead you to the 12-mile mark. After the 12, you’ll have a fun cornfield section before dropping back into some fast woods, back into a cornfield, then into the woods once again to the 13-mile mark. 

At the 13, you’ll come out into the parking area and run a trackside pitting section, before dropping back into a couple of woods sections that lead you to the two-way once again. At the end of that two-way, you’ll come out onto the motocross track and pass the 14-mile mark coming into the finish. On the other side of the finish is another section of motocross before you hit the big cornfield section to tie back in where you started. It’s going to be around 12.5 miles for the 1pm ATVs and 14 miles for the 1pm bikes! 

This promises to be one of the best Ironman courses in a long time. It’s also very dry, so the few showers expected are actually a bit needed at this point. If you’re thinking about staying home this weekend you better change your mind right now because this year’s Ironman is going to be a good one. That’s going to do it for me this week, as there’s a lot of work to get done. We’ll see you at the track this weekend!