14th Annual Onabike CupBritain longest established downhill race is the Onabike Cup. First contested in 1994 when it was won by Steve Kitchen now of Animal fame! Back then the course was longer with a 300m pedalling section out of the start 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 to catch out the 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.
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 3 times is among the favourites to retain the Cup, but with the likes 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
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