HAVOK REIGNS

After a long hiatus, slight relocation and a whole lot of digging, Havok Bike Park is back; welcome to Havok 2.0

- Jamie Darlow

The story of the new inevitably starts with the ending of the old. In 2021 Storm Arwen hammered much of the UK, with high winds flattening forests in Scotland and northern England. Despite being tucked away in a narrow valley in Yorkshire, Havok Bike Park didn't escape a pummelling. Overnight, the park's downhill tracks were buried under windblown trees.

Previously, the team had been happy to deal with any minor incidence of wind damage themselves, but the scale of the chaos caused by Arwen called for professional assistance. When the forest's managers came to assess what would be needed to clear the tracks they decided that it was too dangerous to even attempt to move the trees. The park had to close.

The trail builders who'd created Havok were, effectively, without a home but still keen to keep the spirit of Havok alive. They tried putting their shovels in at a few different locations, seeing if they could progress existing riding spots, but for one reason or another nothing felt quite right. In their minds they knew the only real way forward for themselves, and for Havok, was to find a place they could call their own. The answer came from a chance encounter.

After approaching various landowners with plans for a new bike park and not having much joy, a conversation with the owner of local butty shop, Moor Fillings, yielded better results. The owner's husband owned the hillside directly opposite the site of the original bike park and was interested in helping the trail builders find a home for Havok.

"We told them the story of the woods, and with them being local people, they understood the importance of the park to the community," Sam Peel from Havok told us. "It gets people visiting the area and gets people in their shop."