Saturday's Galleries
Sunday's Galleries
NPS Chain Reaction Downhill Round 4
Fort William
24 September 2006
Images Joolze Dymond, Report: Jon Tubman
When the sun shines on Fort William it's mountain bike heaven
But, on Sunday it rained - virtually all day!
The final round of the NPS Downhill took us to the now legendary Fort William downhill. The course was the same one used for this year's World Cup, but instead of the steep wooded section the switchbacks were used.
With 350 riders entered, everyone was keen to ride one of the toughest tracks there is. Although queues were preventing many of us getting on to the hill as the gondola line is also used to rescue injured riders. With many riders and their bikes falling victim to the sheer brutality of this track. Fortunately the weather was good to us on the Saturday with seeding runs on a dry track.
Check out the view
Sunday was a different story: with black clouds approaching during practice it was not long before the heavens opened. Race runs were made difficult with heavy rain engulfing the top of the course. Many riders had not practiced the course in these wet conditions and then had to do their race run, not an easy task on such an intimidating track!
Elite Men
MBUK Santa-Cruz rider Marc Beaumont had the series title in the bag, but it was not going to be so easy winning the final as Greg Minnar (Honda) was in town. The South African has already won a World Cup here, but Marc put in a storming run to take the victory in 4.12.633sec, three seconds up on Minnar leaving the Honda star second. Tom Braithwaite (Giant) took third place after a good season.
Elite Women
With Rachel Atherton resting, it was left to Tracy Moseley (Kona/Let-Gets) and Helen Gaskell (Halfords Bikehut) to battle it out, unfortunately Helen punctured leaving Tracy to take the top step with ease, but Helen had the consolation of taking the series overall.
Podium time with winners Marc Beaumont and Tracy Moseley
Expert Men
It had to be a Scot! Ancilloti's Fergus Lamb had a great run to put in a ten second lead over second place Liam Mason. Jonny Cheetham (Halfords Bikehut) had a disappointing run but he took the series overall.
Junior Men
Ralph Jones (Cloud Cover) had the third fastest time of the day to take the top step in this most exciting of categories, where talent is emerging at every race. Ben Cathro (The Hub) used his local knowledge to guide him into second place and claim the series overall.
Youth Men
Josh Bryceland (Santa Cruz Royal) makes it look so easy and took the top step with Jack Geoghegan (Astonhill/Ancilloti) in second. Joseph Smith (Ancilloti) was third and claimed the series overall title.
Master Men
It was Thomas Reed taking first place followed by Paul May (rapidracers.com) and a masters podium isn't complete without Andrew Titley (Kona UK) who was third. Aiden Bishop finished fifth which was good enough to win the series overall title.
Veteran Men
All year this category has been holy contested between Jerry Twigg (Cycleworld) and Martin Crockett (Midlands and Borders Downhill). This time, Jerry took the win and with that the series overall.
Senior Men
The senior category faced some of the worst weather on their runs. Paul Webster claimed victory with Fort William local Jesse Wigman in second place. Philip Roberts (Beics Betws) won the overall.
So that's the series over and done with for another year. We would like to thank Dave Morgan and his team for the last five years of hard work, as this is their final year running the series. See you next year!