The discipline of 24-hour racing started in 1992 with the first 24 Hours of Canaan (in West Virginia). In 1998 Pat Adams introduced Red Bull Mountain Mayhem to the UK at Trentham Gardens near Stoke and the event has been running ever since, now on its fourth venue. The early noughties saw a huge growth in the sport of 24-hour racing – events sold out in a matter of days and huge fields of up to 2,500 racers descended on courses in Sandwell and Eastnor for Mayhem and other 24-hour races across the UK from Plymouth to northern Scotland.
Through out the early years of this century, from the Strathpuffer, up in Inverness in January, to Relentless in Fort William in October, there was a full calendar of 12- and 24-hour racing throughout the UK. It was a discipline that any self-respecting trail rider had to have a go at. And many riders found that racing once would lead to a whole lot of potential ‘Next time…’ ways to improve on their performance, race enjoyment or camping comfort that necessitated another go the following year.