British Mountain Bike Cross-Country Series Round 2

Sherwood, 12 May 2007
Report & Images Joolze Dymond

Results: Cross-Country Results

Special Feature: Elite Men's Race in Pictures

Link: Trek Marathon Series Round 2 Report

Sherwood - fast and furious......at least whilst the sun shines!

Billed as one of the most exciting national series races we've had for a while the second round of the Freerange Sports Optics British Mountain Bike Series certainly delivered the goods at all levels. With UCI class 1 Elite status, the race's prize purse was as tempting as the ranking points on offer. A true international mix was expected, with some classy riders signed up to take on the UK's best. As a result nearly 600 hundred riders across all classes lined up on Saturday a clear sign that the boom in Cross-Country racing is continuing.

And so, Sherwood Pines was the venue for the hotly contested 2nd round of the 2007 series. Although essentially a flat course, designer Ian Potter, aided by his wife, international rider Kate Potter, had crafted a highly technical route that threaded its way through the landscape, taking full advantage of Sherwood's miles of natural singletrack. Riders faced 11.1 km of fast flowing, twisty, rooty, singletrack with logs to jump and soul-sapping sticky sections, where you had to keep your wits about you whilst travelling at speed to avoid the dreaded tree to body interface.

Race 1

The racing got off to a flying and dry start with the younger categories giving us a taste of the racing we were expecting later in the day. It was the juniors who blasted off first with a highly competitive field, each rider eager to get that elusive win. Dave Fletcher, back after a BMX accident, was right in the mix hoping to lead the way on his home patch. Hamish Creber, with thoughts of a second win took the group out into the singletrack on the first of 3 super quick laps.

The Youth Men scrabble to get off the start line

Alex Paton, Shaun Hurrell and Billy Joe Whenman, made up the rest of the lead group with the rest of the field fragmenting behind the leaders. Creber came a cropper half way round the first lap, giving Paton the chance to edge out in front as the rest of the group fought to hold on. But Paton was on a mission and he kept a tight grip on his small lead, riding with his head and keeping things well under control. In the end he came home to claim the win from Dave Fletcher by just 26secs. Third spot was decided by an exciting sprint as Whenman, Hurrell and Creber all battled for that elusive podium spot. In the end Whenman had the edge, piping a fast finishing Hurrell to the line by 1sec, whilst a disappointed Creber came in for 5th.

Juvenile riders zig-zag through Sherwood's great singletrack

The battle for top spot in the youth race was, as expected, between those two closely matched riders Michael Butler and Will Verney. On lap one it was a strong Verney who seemed to have the advantage, keeping Butler at arms length with some fierce attacks. Verney's aggression paid off as he flew round the second lap to win by 19secs from Butler. Kenta Gallagher took a well-earned third, 42secs adrift. Max Sykes continued in his domination of the juvenile class with a clear 30sec win over Grant Ferguson, who in turn had a good 30secs over third placed Irish rider Jack Wilson.

Hannah Barnes won the women's juvenile race in her usual confident manner, making it 2 wins this season. Claire Oakley claimed 2nd, whilst Alice Barnes claimed 3rd. The strong Irish contingent had yet another podium in the Youth Women's race, with Jessica Laird stepping up to claim 2nd. However it was Welsh rider Ruby Miller, in her first national MTB race who took first place, taking advantage of the absence of Rebecca Thompson, sidelined by illness. Sam Bryant took 3rd. In the Junior Women, Annie Last had a good old battle with Amy Thompson. Last got away on the last lap and got the win with Amy a good 40 sec adrift. Marie Stuart picked up 3rd to make it a 1 & 3 on the podium for the newly formed Team Chance.

Race 2

Come midday, with the course now firmly bedded in, it was the turn of the Elite categories to do battle, with a distinctive international presence adding flavour to proceedings. Heading up the men's race was National Champion and defending series champion Oli Beckingsale, who was hoping to take his 2nd win of the series. Burry Stander keen to exchange his first round silver for gold, was back from South Africa, whilst American Michael Broderick, currently on a mountain bike race tour of Europe, added to the international mix, alongside Norwegian Ole Christian Fagerli.

As the start whistle sounded the pace went through the roof straight away and the freight train that was the Elite men's race was soon ploughing it's way through the woods and the miles of tricky singletrack. On the first of the 5 laps, a super fast group of around 10 riders snaked around the course, with riders occasionally bailing out and racing to recover and get back on again. At the front the attacks came thick and fast, as Stander, along with Beckingsale, Wilkinson and Ian Bibby each had a dig.

Oli Beckingsale, Ian Wilkinson and Ian Bibby locked in the battle to decide the men's race

On lap 3 Bibby broke the elastic and made his move, opening up a good 10 second lead. Stander initially led the chase, but then called it a day, his recent heavy workload of races and traveling finally catching up with him. This left Beckingsale and Wilkinson in the hunt and they finally overhauled Bibby. Wilkinson then attacked, leaving Bibby going backwards fast after putting so much effort into his do or die attack.

The race was now effectively down to a head to head between Wilko and Oli, who attacked repeatedly on the last lap, trying to shake off Wilkinson. However, in the end he had to throw in the towel, as he realized that on his current form on the road, Wilkinson would be unbeatable in a sprint. And so it was Wilkinson who came home in a jubilant mood, pulling clear through the feed zone, to take his first win of the series, with a disappointed Beckingsale trailing in just 3secs behind. Meanwhile Ian Bibby kept off an ever-closing Simon Richardson to take 3rd, with American Michael Roderick picking up 5th spot, and making his first UK podium. Special Feature: Elite Men's Race in Pictures

The elite women's race also had an international mix, with usual antipodeans Kate Potter and Jenn O'Connor being joined by Rosara Joseph, 5th UCI ranked American Mary McConneloug and Slovakian National Champion Janka Stevkova. Seeking to repel this international invasion were National Champion Jenny Copnall, who admits she currently not in top form, as well as youngster Amy Hunt eager to take another win after her success at Thetford.

Start as you mean to go on - USA's Mary McConneloug rockets into the first corner with Rosara Joseph second

However, it was clear from the off that McConneloug was in a class of her own: she hit the first corner first and just kept going, riding her own race, relishing the singletrack and riding as smoothly as possible. These simple tactics worked beautifully as she simply rode away from the rest of the field.

Left in her wake was Rosara Joseph, who also rode her own race before once more having to settle for 2nd. At the finish McConneloug took what looked a deceptively easy win, a good 5mins clear of Joseph. Behind these two, the battle for the minor placings was more intense as a small group containing Jenny Copnall, Amy Hunt, Janka Stevkova, Jenn O'Connor and Kate Potter rode in formation, fighting it out for much of the race. With 2 laps down, Hunt lost ground due to a mechanical and she was out of the mix.

Potter too was finding the going tough - she was not feeling 100% at the start - and she too fell off the pace. By lap 3 Jenny Copnall had launched her bid for 3rd easing a small gap, which she held to the line. O'Connor, came in 4th leaving an angry Stevkova, frustrated by bike problems, to take 5th.

Nick Jones took a hard fought win in the expert race, with just 8 secs separating him and Robert Friel. Andrew Cockburn put up a good fight but lost contact on the 3rd lap to finish in 3rd.

Marcie Reinhart was hoping to make it 2 wins out of two in the Expert women's race and started off opening up a good gap in the first lap. However as the race progressed, Mel Alexander gradually pulled her back to take the win. Reinhart had to settle for 2nd and Fran Mundy took 3rd.

A massive 80 riders lined up for the sport race which was taken by Ben Thomas, just ahead of Gerald Tudor in 2nd and Chris Metcalfe in 3rd. A stunned Sara Randle had to take a rain check on her recent run of wins, settling for 2nd spot in the women's sport race behind a delighted Katie Collins. Rachel Fenton took 3rd.

Race 3

As the categories for the final race of the day lined up on the start line, they were eyeing a bundle of threatening looking clouds. It looked as if the forecast bad weather was at last moving in.

Another huge field got underway in the Masters' race, with a whopping 77 riders hoping to get those all important points. As the race unfolded it looked as if we might be on for a similar outcome to the first round, with all the usual contenders up there making their mark. Geoff Beetham keen to get his first win under his belt was a strong driving force, but main rivals Matt Barrett, Graham Warby and Ben Dale, were also in the mix, with the lead changing constantly over the race.

Race 3 and the sun has gone and the rain and mud have arrived!

One lap in and the heavens opened and the once slick trails turned to slush. The race proceeded to slide around the circuit with semi slicks not looking such a good bet as they had an hour earlier! In the end it was down to a sprint with Beetham once more thwarted for the win as Barrett took the honours. In the race for 3rd Ben Dale was looking good until a bout of cramp slowed him, forcing him to concede to by Graham Warby. Dale took fourth.

It was a blast from the past in the women's master race as Michelle Bergstrand made a one-off off-road appearance, taking the win along the way. Regulars Caroline Goward and Theresa Jackson picked up the other podium spots.

Paul Hinton took the initiative in the men's vets race heading the race into the singletrack keeping out of trouble and taking no risks in the increasingly difficult conditions. Soon it was just Hinton and Mark Chadbourne at the front, being chased by Jef Sharp and Gavin Rumbles. On the last lap Chadbourne began to fade leaving Hinton out in front with a strong finishing Gavin Rumbles rapidly closing. Rumbles overhauled Chadbourne and had his sights on Hinton, but could not quite get there, having to settle for 2nd behind Hinton. Chadbourne took a well-earned 3rd.

Debbie Burton held off a strong challenge by Kate Wheeler in the veteran women's race to take the win, with Wheeler 2nd and carol Tilley 3rd.

The Vets get underway, with eventual winner Paul Hinton (1284) already pulling clear

Roy Hunt resplendent in his new team colours eased himself to another comfortable win in the grand vets class with Ray Crosthwaite taking 2nd and John Galway 3rd. Sallie Burnham took the grand vets women's race. With just 3 contenders in the super vets class it was Victor Barnett who took the win. John Hollier took the open men's race and Hannah Scotford Smith took the women's open race.

Despite a less than perfect weekend, weather-wise, the competitors were not put off. In fact just the opposite, with a record number of entrants signing up to take on the best in the UK in their respective categories. As the series progresses, the competition will get tougher as there will be new and old scores to settle. Now the series moves into the hills, with Margam in South Wales the next venue, with its lung busting, soul sapping climbs, wicked descents, interspersed with testing trails. Hopefully we'll see a few more international riders turning up to keep our guys and girls on their toes and help raise the bar once more.

It's plain to see that that bar has risen significantly over the years: the competition has become more intense and the fields are growing bigger and stronger with each race. Once it was difficult persuade people that "XC racing" and "exciting" could be uttered in the same breath, but not any more. Make a date to come and see the best in action at any of the remaining 3 dates, or even have a go yourself. You won't be disappointed. Don't forget, you can always spectate on the Saturday and turn that inspiration to good use by riding the Marathon on the Sunday.

Riders' comments:

Ruby Miller - Youth women's winner
It was fun today, this was my first BMBS and I really enjoyed it. It was so competitive with all the other girls as well. The course was pretty technical and flattish, I don't really like that, I much prefer hills. I'm really looking forward to the next round at Margam that will be more suited to me.

Hannah Barnes - Juvenile women's winner
Yeah happy with that, 2 wins out of 2 so far, so that's good. It was okay today but I much prefer the hillier courses, the ones that are held in Wales or Scotland are my favourites.

Michael Butler - 2nd Youth men
Well I don't know what happened to be honest today; Will was riding really strong today. I knew the racing between us would be quite close between us after the first round, but I didn't know what to expect today. When I got going I didn't feel as good as I usually do, he (Will) was much stronger. He attacked half way round the first lap, he just went and I had nothing to respond with. The course improved a lot today compared to the training rides yesterday, when it hadn't been worn in. After it had rained last night and everyone had ridden it this morning, it had worn in and there were berms and stuff on the corners and was much faster. Hopefully I'll be back on form at Margam.

Will Verney - Youth Winner
I felt really good today and on the first lap I made an attack got a gap and kept pushing it. I didn't really know what to expect coming to the race, as I've been ill for the past week. But it was a good race. The next round should be tough as it's pretty close between me and Michael; we're pretty evenly matched at the moment, so it should be a good race.

Alex Paton - Junior Winner
Yeah pretty good race, it all went fine apart from one crash. On the first lap Creber slipped on a corner and I had to take a bit of a savage line to get round him, but I got a gap from there and it all sort of fell into place. After a disappointing first round to then get a win, you can't do better than that can you. The whole standard of the junior field at the moment is pretty good, so the racing is really tough but that's good. We're all gonna progress as the season goes on so it's just gonna get harder and harder

Jessica Laird - 2nd youth women
Good race, especially with the track changing so much since I rode round in practise, it was quite sticky today. It was quite fast and completely different to any courses that I've ridden here previously, you sort of knew the track but you didn't. It was quite challenging. Compared to the courses back home in Ireland this is incredibly flat - back home its just climb after climb, here it's quite technical but also very flowy. I'm really looking forward to the next round in Margam, that's where the hilly courses begin and I much prefer those. I like coming over here to race despite the travelling, I get better races here, at home I have to race against the boys but here I battle it out with other girls and that makes it much better.

MaryMcConneloug - Elite women's winner
I'm honoured to find I'm the first American to win a round of a UK National series race. That's fantastic. I felt great today and had a great ride out there, it was so fast and grippy, I loved it riding through all that singletrack through the woods that was excellent. I got away quite early on but it was by no means easy and definitely not lonely! The was a lot of passing to do out there and a lot of back markers to look forward to getting up to, I just focused on staying smooth and just enjoyed the ride. I'm really glad we came here to England to race; it's such a nice experience to race somewhere where they speak English!
We have a great national series in the States too, we have races scattered all over the USA with fantastic trails. They do a short track, xc and a time trail so it's a 3 day race for the pros we have a lot of amateurs out there too. There's a lot of great racing at the States at the moment but Mike and I chose to come over to Europe to race as the competition is just awesome here, so it will just push us and push us so we can reach our potential really. That's not to say there isn't stiff competition in the States far from it, it's just everything is just so compacted over here, drive 300km and your in another country and you have your choice of races so it makes it easier for us to race over here. I'd like to have another go at one of the BMBS, all being well we'll try and see if we can make it for the next round in Wales.

Ian Wilkinson - Elite winner
Really good race, I seem to have stepped up to another level since last year. I've been really tired all week; I've just been focusing on recovering. Thursday I felt a bit better, rode round yesterday and felt good and then this morning I rode in from Dixon's house and was feeling quite sprightly so I went for it and came out on top. Bibby made the main attack on the 3rd lap, with me Oli and Burry chasing, though fair play to Oli when I got into the singletrack I slowed down a bit, playing team tactics. Oli just kept his cool and did a real turn and brought the race back up to Bibby. We went past him and he was with us for a bit but another attack saw him fall off the back. Superb though. Went with Oli and soon we had a gap, he attacked a few times but he couldn't get rid of me. Towards the end I thought he was gonna ring Malcolm Elliott to see if he could get some sprinting tips. I've had some good sprinting practise recently but you never know how well Oli could be going. It was a rough finish and we sussed it out last night that if you were in the front over that rough stuff by the pits it was really hard to come round, it was so sticky, so I thought I'd go there and led it out and Oli couldn't get round me. Now got to rest up for the Lincoln tomorrow?

Ian Bibby - 3rd elite
I waited till the 3rd lap and put my all into one big attack, it was all or nothing really; it was so flat I had to do it. I got away and built up a really good gap, then Oli brought Wilko with him across the gap, caught me, then Wilko put the hammer down and I went straight right out the back. I lost about 10 secs but held them to that. Happy with third after all that.

Oli Beckingsale - 2nd elite
It was alright, it was generally hard work out there today, I found the trail pretty hard with 90% singletrack it made it pretty hard to race with having to pass all the other riders out there. The fact there are no hills here is irrelevant, you just have to deal with that, too much singletrack and some of it was a bit duff. Battling through sticks and branches and stuff is not great and when you're mixing out there with lots of different abilities it's the hardest part of the race. The hardest part of this race was just getting past people. Bibby did a good race there were a few groups; he split it up a bit. Bibby attacked and I sat there for a bit and I waited and let Burry chase and went as hard as I could on the faster bits and got away with Wilko, we caught Bibby and went straight past him. It was all I could do, to just go hard on the harder bits and try and shake Wilko, as I knew I wouldn't get him in a sprint. I didn't ride the cleverest last lap though and mentally I gave up a little bit, I'm really annoyed with myself, what I should have done is ride it as hard as I could on the front all the way and just hope for the best. I knew I was gonna lose a sprint, for some reason I thought I'd get behind him and something amazing would happen, but it didn't. Wilko did a great ride, he's very skilled and he's riding well at the moment. We had a good race.

Jenny Copnall - 3rd elite woman
It was really nice to have the competition out there for a change, not meaning there hasn't been any competition before but these international girls just add a bit extra. We were all saying on the start line it certainly didn't feel like an NPS. Mary and Rosara are great girls and to have them here racing is excellent. To be honest I'm lacking quite of top end performance in my opinion, I'm like an old diesel at the moment, the first 2 laps I generally hang and then I seem to be able to come round and find something at the end.
I must admit that whether I've won or lost on these types of courses they've always been hard, I'm quite looking forward to Margam & Plymouth now and hopefully things will come on. To be honest I just want to be back to where I know I can be and at this moment in time I don't feel I'm quite there yet.

Katie Collins - Sports women winner
It was pretty tough out there, I hadn't pre-ridden the course, I only had 2 laps to do, so the first lap was just finding out what the course was like and 2nd lap I was getting tired so I was glad it was a short race. It was great fun out there. It was a close race too, I passed Sara (Randle) on the first lap and she was chasing me all the way, it's quite nervy having someone on your tail all the way.

Sara Randle - 2nd Sports
It just didn't happen for me today. The race quickly spread out and I couldn't see anyone behind or anyone in front so it was just ride my own race as fast as I could. The course was tricky in places, quite sticky and grippy, and in some places there were really huge ruts, actually they weren't ruts they were cavernous craters!

Roy Hunt - Grand Vets winner
It was just like a cross out there today, it was well sketchy in places, I slid into a couple of trees a few times but other than that it was okay. Once everyone got muddy you had no idea who was on your tail, it was hard to know who was in what category really. It wasn't a bad course, even with the rain; I was pretty knackered at the end of it all.

Paul Hinton - Vets winner
It was exciting, again we didn't know whether we were going to see Adrian Timmis turn up and race, which would have made it more interesting. He didn't. I took the initiative and got to the first bit of singletrack in the lead, I didn't open up a gap but I upped the pace and got away. Then at the start of the 2nd lap the heavens opened and the track just turned to slush and in a couple of minutes you couldn't recognise anyone they were just covered in mud. Mark stayed with me for most of the 2nd lap and somewhere we managed to drop off a few other riders. Half a lap to go on the 3rd lap, we weren't pushing it but I was thinking we've got ourselves a gap we'll be alright here then looking behind me I saw Gavin (Rumbles) and I said to Mark come on we've got to get going they're chasing, he couldn't believe it, so I went to the front and pushed it for the last part of the lap and before I knew it I had a gap. Mark told me after he'd been faking it on the last lap and was hoping I'd just sit behind him so I would drag him to the finish. The rain made it more exciting - roll on Margam Park and some hills!

Michelle Bergstrand - Master women's winner
I wasn't expecting to do any mountain biking at all this year and the last time I'd been on a mountain bike apart from last Wednesday was last June. I only came to do this as I wanted to do a race this weekend and couldn't make the road race I was meant to ride, so decided to ride this. This is probably the fittest I've been for years. I didn't feel stretched out there I felt really comfortable and when it started to rain I just thought oh well it's do or die.

Debbie Burton - Vets women winner
I gambled on summer tyres today, which was a bit of a mistake, it was dry after the elites, it was really nice that first lap then we had that downpour which turned the course to slurry. Kate (Wheeler) was on my tail, it was a pretty close race, so I'm over the moon to get the win.

Ben Dale - 4th Masters
I wasn't gridded unfortunately because of my poor performance at Thetford. I had a good start got onto the back of the main boys of the race, tucked into a bit and then fought my way through got up to the front and had a bit of a go, then it rained. I managed to keep my position, Matt and Geoff did all the attacking on the 3rd lap, I managed to stay with them, they did it again on the 4th lap I dropped off a bit but managed to get back across but then I started to suffer from some pretty horrible cramps stopped for a couple of mins to get my leg back in working order. And then managed to hobble into 4th. Pleased really considering.