The day the fox chased the hounds
It was only a matter of time that the traditional fox hunt was turned on its head with the prey turned predator. Except in this case the fox was mountain bike champion Rachel Atherton and the hounds were women pedalling as fast as they could before Rachel caught them up.
Friday, 20 May 2016 17:59 GMT
Ben Whittington, setting up the job on Creative Solutions’ Mimaki JFX200
This particular Red Bull Fox Hunt held in Scotland’s Pentland Hills in 2014 is a mountain bike competition aimed at bringing more women into the sport. With an unusual format, the organisers looked around for a sign company who could come up with something different on its banners, namely a beagle hound. Devon-based Creative Solutions were chosen using their Mimaki printers.
Creative Solutions’ Jedd Whittington explains: “We’ve been fortunate enough to work with Red Bull on a number of interesting projects since first being recommended over five years ago by a contact at Lyme Regis harbour where Red Bull were hosting a wakeboarding event, and we’re delighted that they continue to trust us to deliver signage and graphics for a number of major high profile events."
The Fox Hunt event began in Northern Ireland but in this latest manifestation Rachel Atherton decided to launch a women-only version with her as the fox chasing 100 female bikers as the hounds in a mass-start. The idea is for the fox to overtake as many bikers as possible before reaching the finish.
I thought it would be so cool if we could get more women racing. I wanted it to be a really welcoming way to get into competing”
Atherton comments: "I thought it would be so cool if we could get more women racing. I wanted it to be a really welcoming way to get into competing. For a lot of people, it’s the first race they’ve ever done, and that’s awesome.”
Red Bull looked south to Axminster and Creative Solutions for the banners. Whittington says: “One of the key requirements was to print over 40 life-sized images of a beagle dog onto rigid PVC boards to be used as way-markers around the course, acting as a tongue-in-cheek reference to a real fox hunt. Our recently installed Mimaki JFX200-2513 LED UV flatbed printer was the perfect machine for the job, coping easily with the demand of high quality, high-volume print."
The firm began in modest surrounds across the county boundary in Lyme Regis in Dorset 17 years ago. Since then, business has expanded and in 2014 they up sticks and moved to new premises in the town made famous by its carpet factory, and in recent times by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage restaurant. But one thing has not changed and that is Creative Solutions loyalty to Mimaki installing two JV3 printers, a JV33, a JV150-160, as well as a JFX200, and have appreciated the support of Hybrid and their Mimaki reseller, CMYUK.
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