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Event Report: Midlands XC - Cannock
Report and Pics by Joolze Dymond
Event Date: 5 August 2007
News Posted: 6 August 2007
The weekend not only saw a welcome break in the awful weather we've been experiencing lately but also saw the welcome return of XC racing in the Midlands. Nadine Spearing and James Hampshire, fed up with the lack of racing in the Midlands actually got stuck in and, at short notice, organised a BC point-ranking race at Cannock Chase. They used their racing experience to put on a fantastic event, fashioning an inspired, creative and compact 4-mile circuit.
Riders came from near and far both to take advantage of the excellent weather but also to support the resurrection of some racing in the Midlands, and none were disappointed.
The Junior, Juvenile, Youth, Womens and Fun categories were sent out first to tackle such delights as 'The Berm of Death', 'Good Times', and 'Mind the Bush' to name a few. What lay in wait for the keen racers were four stiff climbs, followed by technical descents, leaving no time to rest as they swooped through the fern lined singletrack, bathed in rare sunshine.
The decision was taken at the start of the race that the short course would mean categories would do one more lap than they normally do in a National event. So this meant the Juniors were now doing four laps, Youth three, Juvenile two and Fun 3, which seemed at the time spot on. However the tough circuit coupled with the unexpected soaring heat saw that decision change for the races in the afternoon and each race dropped a published lap as times were much slower than anticipated.
Baking sunshine greets the riders at the start
Undeterred, the riders battled on, relishing the chance to ride some of the finest terrain in the country with only one or two muddy puddles on the way.
Orange Monkey cadet Alex Baker took the Juvenile race in his stride, the young monkey has definitely come on leaps and bounds during the season and at Cannock he romped home, leaving second placed rider Joseph Home nearly 3 mins in his wake. Matthew Sumption, despite a fast start, was pipped to the post by Joseph and had to settle for 3rd.
Youth rider Will Verney made short work of the race, leading from the front and never looking back. Nearest challenger was Joe Peake, who got past Oliver Watson to take 2nd.
Above and Below: Cannock is famed for it's woodsy, flowing, natural singletrack
Charles Newton-Mason, thwarted from riding the National XC Champs by the recent floods, made up for the disappointment by taking a confident win in the Junior race, with runners up Dave Lawton and Barnaby Bedford picking up the remaining podium positions.
Both Elite and Expert women saw only one entry each, with Jenn O'Connor and Fran Mundy taking time to come and support the burgeoning series. Both enjoyed the circuit and both were rewarded at the end with specially designed gold medals.
However in all the other women's categories the entries were more comprehensive. The Sports category saw Dominican Republic road rider turned mountain biker, Amelia Cambridge, take her first win in her first off road race in the UK, leaving seasoned BMBS rider Ruth Owen-Evans to take 2nd and Lisa Jenkins 3rd.
Theresa Jackson was delighted to once more find form after a disappointing National Championships and rode a strong race to take the Masters category. In the Vet Women's race Carole Tilley found herself so deep in concentration that see missed a section of the course, by riding under the tape, she quickly turned back and retraced her steps to join the race circuit proper, but the damage had been done as the race leader and eventual winner Riana Howlett pulled out too much time to enable Tilley to get back in contention.
While in the Fun race Laura McCommerick romped round her race taking a comfortable win. The Men's Fun race was won by Francis Baker despite stiff competition from runner up Andrew Carman.
Shelter from the sun under the tall pines of Cannock
Medals were awarded to the top three in each category as the next set of competitors began to swarm around the start line, ready to battle it out in the heat.
First off in the afternoon were the elites, where Nigel Martin became the man to beat, finally taking the win just over three minutes clear of 2nd placed Euan Ross with Andrew Howett taking 3rd.
Martyn Brookes was looking like the clear favourite in the Expert race, as he led out the race over three of the four laps, however on the 4th lap stomach cramps put paid to his race, leaving him limping home in 6th. This left the door wide open for a battle between Phil Morris and Andrew Cockburn. In the end it was Morris who got the better of Cockburn coming home to take the win with 59secs in the hand over Cockburn, while Paul Priestley took 3rd.
The two biggest contested categories were the Sport and Masters. Gerald Tudor continued to show the form that he's shown all year in the BMBS and took the win over teammate Nick always the bridesmaid never the bride Evans, who in turn had a good tussle with Chris Metcalfe, taking 2nd with just three secondss to spare.
Railing a bend out in the afternoon sun
Meanwhile in the Masters it was Eelco Doctor who took the honours despite a fierce challenge from Richard John who came in 45secs later to take 2nd. Andrew Patterson took 3rd.
Roland Tilley made it a good weekend for the Tilley family by taking the win in the Vets category to complement wife Carole's second spot earlier in the day. Michael Powell took 2nd with Keith Sheridan narrowly pipping Warren Miles to 3rd.
In the Grand Vets it was Pete Harris who lead from the beginning to take the win just ahead of chasing rider Rhys Lodwick. Victor Barnett picked up 3rd.
As the medals for the remaining races were handed out and bottles of recovery drinks gulped down, there was much banter about how great the course had been. A big round of applause to James and Nadine, for not just talking the talk but getting out there and doing the business. It was a cracking first event, with good timing (courtesy of the boys at Time Laps), excellent catering, support from Cadence Training (with Adrian Timmis handing out the well earned medals), decent toilets (always a plus!) and not forgetting a superb course. A lot of hard work went into the race and it showed in the delighted smiles of the riders as they came home tired but happy. The next round is on the 2nd September and is also the Midlands Champs. Make sure you get your entries in soon to secure a ride in one of the best circuits in the country.
Rider Response:
Alex Baker
That was my first ever Juvenile win, so really happy. The course was really hard. I didn't realise how many hills there were going to be, they came as a surprise. The first one in particular, I came round the corner to be faced with a big steep hill. It was definitely worth the journey here, it's great training for all the bigger races like the BMBS. I didn't have an easy race - I was constantly looking back to see where the two guys that eventually came 2nd and 3rd were. On the hills they were on my tail and then I'd lose them. I was constantly attacking on the hills just to get a good gap, but they were always coming back to me and it was really hot as well so that was a tough race.
Laura McCommerick
This is my first XC race, I did 24/12 earlier in the year, so I thought I'd come and do this as it was bound to be easier, or so I thought. There were a lot more hills but not as technical as 24/12. I didn't enjoy racing at the time but now I've finished yes! I definitely think I'll do another one just need to practise a bit more I think.
Charles Newton-Mason
That was a really good course, technical and hilly so it suited me. I went out hard on the first lap, probably a bit too hard in the heat, then slowed the last 3 down a little bit.
Fran Mundy
That was great fun a good course, quite technical in places and hard on the climbs and very hot today. It was a real up and down course. Enjoyable though.
Jenn O'Connor
It was good fun, a lot of the singletrack was quite tight, you had to keep the speed down a little bit, which made it a good challenge. It had a little bit of everything in it this course. I'm just using this as training I've got the World Marathon Champs next week and I just wanted to get some speed work in, so it's nice to do that and also support Nadine and James in the process.
Will Verney
Yeah that was a good race, hard work in the heat though. There were some long climbs, about 4 in total per lap, they were vicious. The extra lap didn't make much difference to me - I just paced myself and tried to feed well so I didn't cramp up. I just rode within myself; it was a good bit of training. It was a really good course and great to see some local races back on.
Amelia Cambridge
I really enjoyed the race; this is my first mountain bike race in England. I used to race mountain bikes when I was a Junior. I'm 27 now so you can see I've not raced for a few years! I started mountain biking again because of the weather here, I was doing road and track racing in the Dominican Republic, but here it's been raining so much so I told my husband the only way I'm going out on my bike here is if I go on the mountain bike! So here I am. It was a very hard race, but I enjoyed it. I think I'll be doing a bit more after this.
Theresa Jackson
That was really hard, 4 laps in 2 hours that was worse than an NPS. It was really, really hot out there too, but it was a really superb course that raced better than it rode in practice. Really good and I've got my legs back again!
Phil Morris
That was a bit of a shock in the end to get the win. On the 4th lap I caught Martyn but I think he was suffering from severe stomach cramps - he looked like he was in a bit of pain. Really pleased though, excellent course, nice singletrack, flowed quite well, tough, very tough especially with the heat. The course suited me as I like climbing but even so I was glad to get to the last lap and finish the race.
Gerald Tudor
Brilliant course, very up and down, I don't think they could have crammed more hills into a 4 mile course that and the heat really took it out of us. It was good though. Those 4 climbs were tough - no flats to get your breath back and when you were descending it was so bumpy, your arms were aching on the way down and your legs were aching on the way up. But fantastic course, Nadine and James did a great job, I hope they put more on next year.
Roland Tilley
That was harder than I expected really, a lot of climbing and with the heat it makes it harder still. I sat in to start with to see how things would go as I'm not a fast starter, I got away on one of the climbs I just carried on and got a gap and kept it going. Worth travelling 190 miles to race, especially as Carole got a good race too and picked up 2nd in the Women's Vets.
Nigel Martin
That was a great course, really fun, harder than Plymouth I think overall. It's great to have some XC races back on in the Midlands. It was a really tough course with no let up, straight up the hills then it was straight back down some technical descents.
Richard John
It's good to see some races back on in the Midlands again, the last time I raced here was probably back in 1989, maybe 1990 when I was a student. It's great to be back here, it's an excellent race venue. The course was very unforgiving, you had to concentrate on the climbs, keep the right gear and then you really had to watch out on the descents, you could quite easily make a large mistake. I've not had the best of form this year, so it was nice to get a podium result today.
Eelco Doctor
That was a very good race, I'm surprised really that I won, it was my first mountain bike race of the year. I usually ride road, I'd like to do more XC racing but there aren't that many around in the Midlands, so when I saw this one I thought I'd give it a go. So pleased with the result and really enjoyed it. The course was fantastic, the singletrack and descents coupled with those good climbs made it really enjoyable.
Nadine and James (Organisers)
It seems to have been very successful, we're very happy with that. It's been a long, long day but it's been worth it. We only decided in the middle of June to put the races on, so 2 months isn't really enough time but we did it. We decided to put the races on, as previously there have been no races in the Midlands at all this year, so we thought, Why not give it a go? We thought if we wanted it there must be other riders out there who wanted it too. It's definitely been worthwhile everyone has said great things about the course. A lot of novices came up to me to say they've never raced before and they really enjoyed today, so hopefully they'll want to race more. We'd definitely like to see more races at Cannock next year, we're happy to help organise some of the races but would like others to get involved to hold races in other parts of the Midlands, we already have 2 others lined up, so hopefully a full season of racing will be available in the Midlands next year.