HOPE WOMEN ENDURO 2026
Under gloriously sunny September skies, over 230 riders from across the UK assembled for the highlight of the early-autumn women’s enduro calendar: Hope WMN Enduro 2026!
This year’s event at the Forest of Dean was an even larger affair than in previous years, with the FOD Cycle Centre playing host to a fully fledged event village including a dizzying array of gorgeous shiny bike bits and riding clobber to tempt competitors, a big screen, activities, prizes, and some frankly ludicrous croissants (1000/10 recommend – pistachio cheesecake croissant are not 3 words that should go together, but they’re oh so right!).
This year’s race-weekend format had been tinkered to reflect last year’s feedback, meaning a full weekend of riding, practicing, coaching, racing and good times.
The good times were in full flow from early doors on Saturday morning, with plenty of riders making the most of the beautiful weather and the opportunity to scope out lines and session tricky corners.
With two new stages (Boneyard and Y2K for the FOD-initiated) and – in my case at least – a whole 12 months to have forgotten the 3 we raced on last year; practice was essential and the availability of expert coaching on some of the trickier sections was especially welcome.
Having brought my family along to share the lovely vibes and trails (OK - the green skills loop) this year; I was juggling my race practice with that of my 3 year old daughter. Which of the sniper-roots-and-chutes of stage 5 (Y2K) vs small-girl-full-speed-tank-slapper was the more terrifying pre-race experience, I’ll let the reader decide! A full day of bikes in the sun with my family and friends new and old had my stoke-o-meter bouncing off the limiter and as the campsite quietened and a field full of riders drifted off to rest, I was almost too excited to sleep.
Race morning brought even more sunshine and excited energy. I love a women’s race for the sheer amount of chatter and joy that a simple sign-on queue can generate!
Race number and timing chip on-board, we were off up the hill. The mash-up approach to this event meant we could ride any stage in any order as many times as we liked. All racers rode stages 1-3, and if you liked you could call it a day there for the “Lite” enduro, or ride stages 4 and 5 too for the “full” experience.
We opted to have a crack at stages 3 and 2 first (excellent strategizing from my new riding pal Cathy making some good decisions on behalf of my un-caffeinated brain) and joined the chattering line of riders wending their way up to the stages.
First up was stage 3 (Twisted Sister), with a flat out pedally jump section to max-out the lung capacity before the stage steepens into some rocky chutes, rooty corners and stupidly silly fun. Having punctured early and grumbled my way tentatively downwards only to be saved by a knight in pink and purple Hafod Bike Park armour (huge shout out to my mysterious saviour), I salvaged the stage and found myself having the absolute time of my life. Safely down, separated from my riding pals, ears ringing from the enthusiastic heckling of my husband and daughter and absolutely buzzing on adrenaline; I had an unexpectedly weepy moment: “WHAT A LOVELY TIME THIS IS, what a privilege, how lucky am I to be here, isn’t this wonderful!!”.
I quickly realised this was my body saying “calm down love, you need a coffee and a croissant” so naturally opted to ignore this sage advice entirely, truck back to the top, locate my pals and crack on with stage 2.
Stage 2 (Boneyard) was another long stage, with lung-busting pedalling at the top followed by steeper, flowier berms and some cheeky drops and jumps to keep your wits about you. It was an absolute cracker and I wasn’t the only one whooping for joy by the bottom.
Reassured by the mash-up format and a full day of riding ahead of us, we opted for coffee and cake and tootled back to HQ to refuel and share tales of line-choice, sniper roots and tyre pressures.
Next up we opted for the other end of the hill, with a couple of runs of stages 1 (Tight and Twisty / Beartrap) and 5 (Y2K) whilst we waited for the ground to dry out a bit. (Did I mention I LOVE the mash-up format!?)
The lovely steady flowy stage 1 I’d remembered from practice actually turned out to be quite tricky to race on once the adrenaline was flowing. It’s a beautiful trail, and as soon as I stopped trying to sprint, focussing instead on having a lovely time amongst the hazel coppice, I found the flow and finished another stage with a big stupid grin.
A few runs of stage 5 were next on the menu. New for 2026, this stage featured quite a few naughty little steep rooty chutes and spicier line options, racing this stage reminded me of day / night enduros at Innerleithen back in the mists of time and I found myself all of a sudden taking it all a bit seriously. Fortunately my seriousness was short-lived, whooping and shrieking of Laura and Cathy in “OMG did you see that!?!?” mode reminding me what a jolly nice time I was having. Stage 5 was certainly the most challenging of the lot, so it was amazing to see so many folk having a crack at it. I was really inspired chatting to people who were adamant there was no way they’d have ridden it without the previous day’s coaching. This is what these events are all about; giving riders the chance to challenge themselves and push their riding to the next level and give stuff a go. If that was you – good on ya! YEEEEOOWW!
Cathy’s sniper root radar declared itself satisfied that the atmospheric conditions had reached the sufficient threshold for us to safely attempt stage 4 (Skidz and Grins); we were off again. Lots of roots, some pesky bombholes, and lots of very fun berms, this was a short sharp stage which was bags of fun. By this stage my noodle arms were really feeling the strain and I was rapidly approaching “useless passenger of a bike that’s going where gravity wants it to” stage. So, feeling a silly mistake rapidly approaching, I opted to ride back to HQ with toddler in tow and enjoy the atmosphere in the event village.
Crowds of tired, smiley riders were gathered at HQ, eagerly comparing stage times and devouring pizzas. Faces in sunshine and beers in hand, it was clear that I wasn’t the only one having a really lovely time!
Enthusiastically cheered podiums (including a spectacular mass-rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR NAAAATALIE!) complete, it was time to hit the road and truck home. With several hours of M5 reflection time, I marvelled at how Hope WMN races always somehow manage to be competitive, confidence-building and completely joyful all at once — a rare and brilliant combination.
Our legs are tired, our hearts are full and we’re absolutely determined to be back for more next year.
Words: Rosie Holdsworth
Pictures: Abi Taylor