Midlands Series Opener Gets the Thumbs Up

 

Midlands XC R1 Hanchurch.

Sunday 30 March 2008

Images & Report: Joolze Dymond

Results: timelaps

Oli Beckingsale (left) and Will Verney, just two of the winners at Hanchurch

Time waits for no man (or woman in these pc days?) and so it was on Sunday where the clocks springing forward did nothing to deter the competitors keen to get to grips with the first round of the much anticipated 2008 Midlands XC series.

After the success of the two-round series organised by James Hampshire and Nadine Spearing last year, the intrepid duo stepped up to the plate once more, upping the ante and their efforts have already born fruit. Due to the nature of the course and the lack of decent parking a decision was taken to cap entries for this event to 200, which they reached easily well before the actual race day, a clear indication of how healthy the XC scene is at the moment and should bode well for the next round.

Primate Corner - gorilla (left), Orange Monkey (right)

Billed as a good way to stretch those legs and ease the body into full on racing just 2 weeks prior to the National Points Series kicking off in Thetford, the races were spilt into one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with the women, juniors, youth, juvenile and fun classes getting to grips with the course first.

A 7km course awaited, crafted by local rider and expert rider Martyn Brookes, in woodland just a stones throw away from the M6. Once you were immersed in the delights that the miles of singletrack, fast flowing descents and tricky tech sections, all thoughts of the surrounding concrete were quickly erased to be replaced by leg burning, brain busting efforts as you sorted out the best line through the ever changing sections.

Pre-rides of the course built up a view that the slick fastness of miles of loamy singletrack lay in wait. However, days of heavy rain prior to the race, transformed the fast flowing course into a hard slog, through tough soul-sapping mud. Despite this, no one had a bad word to say and all were delighted to be able to get that chance to ride in virgin territory on a near perfect 'old' school course.

There's a real Spring-like feel to this super Joolze Dymond pic

Will Verney was one of the many that made short work of his race, blasting from the front and not looking back, leaving the rest of the junior field in his wake, recording lap times that would have him placed in the top 4 of the expert field, he explained to me later how he approached the race:

"That was quite a hard race. I tried to pace myself and record even lap times. It was an excellent course and pretty enjoyable. And to get the win was good I can't do any better than that. It was an excellent way to gauge my form at the start of the season but I won't have a real indication until I get to race against a bigger field. I've got a Swiss Cup coming up in a week or two so that should be good".

Runner up Ross Brinson had a disappointing race after mechanicals left him struggling to get on terms with the race leader:

"I had a bad start, my gears were playing up a bit, so once I lost site of Will (Verney) he's a strong rider and I found it hard to get back on terms with him. I reckon if I'd had a better start I could have stayed with him a bit longer but once the gap was there it was much harder to try and bridge it".

Instead he found himself in a battle with Dave Lawson, but broke away with one to go to leave Lawson in 3rd and consoling himself with 2nd:

"It was interesting riding with Dave (Lawton), we had a good tussle but I think I wore him out on the climbs and had the last lap to myself. Second is the worst position to be in, so a bit disappointed but as happy as you can be with that result behind a strong rider"

In the Youth race Ben Roff took the honours, riding a similar race to Verney where he stuck out from the start and never looked back:

"It was a good race quite hard and challenging and very boggy in places out there. It was a great way to start the season off looking forward to getting stuck in now".

Aron Marshall took 2nd and Bruce Dalton picked up 3rd.

Young Monkey Alex Baker, building on a strong winter came out on top in the juvenile race leaving John Lomas and Nicholas Greaves to pick up the runner up spots.

Make no bones about it, this was a technical course

Fun men saw Chris Goodwin out on his own taking the win with nearly 9 minutes to spare over 2nd placed Richard Ford, while Phil Rogers had a close race with Jon Lightfoot, coming home eventually in 3rd just secs ahead of Lightfoot.

Hannah Shenton had the race to herself as unfortunately no other youth girls decided to get stuck in, so she picked up 1st, battling hard all the way round to make the most out of the challenging course. However she wasn't alone on the track as the rest of the female categories were all out on the course at the same time.

In the Elite field Jenn O'Connor was happily shouting encouragement to the other racers as she powered her way to the win, despite a few comedy moments, I caught up with her later to find out how she found it:

"That was my first XC race of the season and that was hard work doing 4 laps of that course. There were quite a few muddy sections that really slowed you down and were so hard going. I had a few incidents coming off the bike, which I thought was funny, not sure if anyone else did. It was an excellent course and would really like the chance to come back here and race it in the dry, I think it would be fantastic and we might get round a bit quicker.

That said I had a lot of fun out there, it's been a good day. It's awesome that we've got a series in the midlands again and for it to be a sell out event is encouraging to see. James and Nadine have put a lot of hard work in to make this series a success and it looks like it's started on the right foot."

Mel Alexander new to elite racing came home in 2nd and despite a strong start Nadine Spearing, obviously too preoccupied with the overall races themselves called it a day after 2 laps, picked up 3rd by default.

Women's Masters National Champion Michelle Bergstrand made another rare appearance on her trusty mountain bike to have a bit of fun in the mud and took the master's women's win with it, she told me later how enjoyable the whole experience was:

"That was fine, I didn't fall off! Yeah my first race of the season and the first time on my mountain bike since September, but I enjoyed it. It was pretty muddy and twisty out there but I didn't find it too hard, but I couldn't quite keep up with Jenn (O'Connor) and my gears didn't work quite right which was a bit frustrating. I didn't know how I was going to do today, although I'm at home on a mountain bike I don't do as much off road racing as I used to, but I felt good in myself today and the race gave me a bit of a boost. I might pitch up to a few more now."

Ruth Mordaunt took 2nd and Theresa Jackson 3rd after a tough 3 laps. Fi Spotwood having a dabble in the shorter races than she's used to had fun taking the top honours in the sports race with Julie Folwell flying the flag for the vets taking the prize in her race.

With a brief break for podium presentations and a few cups of tea and a couple of bacon buttys courtesy of the excellent Quavers catering, all eyes were on to the afternoon's racing with the biggest fields yet to be let loose. Up to blast round the competitive 'old' school course were the elites, experts, sports, master, vets and grand vets oh and a gorilla, with plenty of top competition eager to see how their early form was panning out.

The elites were first off and in their midst stretching his legs was National Champion Oli Beckingsale. Keen to keep in him in check were a comprehensive showing from Felt with Duncan Jamieson, Dan Booth and Will Bergfelt, whilst local elite rider and course designer Martyn Brookes had high hopes that he could show the guys around for a lap or two.

As anticipated Beckingsale took it relatively easy for the first couple of laps, with Jamieson keeping him company. Booth was fighting hard to keep his position whilst Bergfelt had to abandon after 1 lap with mechanicals.

Oli Beckingsale takes the win - note the state of the art public address

Come lap 3 and Beckingsale started turning up the pace, he explained later that this was his overall plan:

"Yeah that was good I wasn't really planning on coming and just decided at the last minute. I was supposed to racing last weekend at the Girvin but I wasn't feeling a 100% so I sacked it off, I had to find a race to do this weekend instead so here I am. It's good to get some intense training in under race conditions. I had a sort of plan to cruise the first couple of laps and then try and get faster as the race went on and that's exactly what I did."

With that increase in pace he soon lost his companion and despite a few comedy dismounts Beckingsale went on to take the win, pleased that his form is coming on well and now his thoughts are turning to a busy year ahead:

"My condition is really good at the moment and there's so big races coming up in 3 weeks time, the first world cup so its all training towards that really. The course was really nice a few draggy bits some nice singletrack it's a shame that some of it was really muddy buts it's drying up well and it was riding good. It was quite technical in places, sometimes you nailed a few sections and it felt good and sometimes you went through them and felt like a real amateur. It's great coming to a race like this it feels like the old days, you go to all these big races, there's stress and practise but here you can roll up with the family, not bother with a practise lap, whiz round and a laugh have a chat with a few people and go home with a smile on your face, you can't beat it."

British Cycling's own Roger Wilbraham (left) has trouble logging on.....unlike this other competitor

After a gutsy ride Jamieson went on to take 2nd, with a huge grin on his face after a hard race in such fun condition, even if he was suffering from 'grip shift' blisters. Team mate Booth finished the podium with an excellent 3rd. Martyn Brookes, found the transition from riding round the course in dry conditions to racing round with so much mud really hard core:

"It's a shame it's wet, it a really brilliant course in the dry, but you can't do anything about the conditions. It was tough actually racing it, when we were building it or showing people round, you'd ride a bit and wait on a corner, so this was hard. But I wouldn't have changed the course we tried to give out a message that XC isn't just about fitness; it's about skill and endurance too. I really enjoyed it but found the last lap was probably one lap too much for me!"

More log trouble - all part of the fun on an old school course

Paul Robertson was delighted to take a comfortable win in the Experts race, and with it boosting his confidence for the coming season.He explained:

"Yeah that was a good start. I had a bit of an average season last year, my first as an expert but I think I have a bit of form coming into this year so I'm happy. That's helped get my confidence back up as well. It was alright, a bit gloopy in places; it would have been an excellent course if it had been dry. I tucked in behind Chris Lane on the fire road start for the beginning of the race and then when we hit the climb I took off from there and didn't look back and never saw anyone. Some parts of the course held up really well and were really fast and others?.. well let's just say there were a few funny moments, but I got round, and won so that's all you can do".

Chris Aucote took 2nd and Chris lane 3rd.

The sport race was probably one of the closest of the day with just 42 seconds separating the top 3. After a 4-year break Carl Hulston was delighted to be back and racing hard on a fun course:

"I'm happy to be back racing again, this is only my 3rd race this year after a 4 year break, so I'm happy with the way things are going so far. It was a great course reminds me off what races used to be like, hilly technical hard work lots of singletrack and most of all fun! It would have been even better if it had been dry. The race itself was pretty close I think, but being in amongst all the other cats you had no idea where you were, but I think there was a near blanket finish with the top 5 so it was a bit tight".

He was right, as just 38 secs behind him on the finish line was Michael Coward who narrowly squeezed out Dai Price to take 2nd.

Newly married Graham Warby, fresh from his honeymoon had a hard battle with Matt Barrett over the 4 laps. However Warby managed to take the win just 41 seconds ahead of Barrett:

"That was quite a tough race very muddy, especially at the top of the section. The first half of the course was probably the toughest and it got a bit quicker in the second half, but overall yeah pretty pleased, considering I got married 2 weeks ago so have been on honeymoon so I've not been doing as much riding as usual. The competition was good, racing against Matt was tough, especially the first couple of laps, but I've just found out he raced yesterday as well, so he was at a bit of a disadvantage".

Keith Sperry was surprised to take the vet win over rival Michael Powell over the challenging course:

"That was an enjoyable but challenging course, I was surprised to beat Michael (Powell) I've never done that before I was expecting him to get away, but he didn't so I was really pleased to get the win from him. Michael had the better start, but I got past him on the climb then we hit a blockage on the course where all the cats off before us were struggling to get through the muddy section at the top, I got through but Michael didn't come up to me after that so I don't know what happened, so I just went for it. There was a bit of everything out there which is excellent, a real hard slog with some flowing singletrack and some tricky tech sections which is a good mix".

Last but by no means least was the grand vets where Pete Harris complete with his supporters club went on to take the win from Vic Barnett with Stephen Bunn picking up 3rd:

"That was great fun on an awesome course. Vic Barnet got away at the start so I was chasing him down; I got caught up with a lot of back markers up on the veranda section, so I was in a bit of a panic. Then I was having a tussle with Jack (Peterson), got past him and then I caught up with Vic on the tech downhill, so I went past him there and didn't see him again. So that was 2 hard laps, if we'd had 3 we could have paced it but with just 2 it was like a sprint. It was so gloopy I changed my tyres to some 10-year-old ones I had so it felt really old school then! I really enjoyed it, the lines were changing every lap making you think, it was great".

Many thanks to the Grimie Lymies who happily took on marshalling duties, as well as car park duties where they managed to raise an impressive ?196 from the generous competitors and their supporters, for local charity, the Donna Louise Trust - Link

Thanks to Lord Stafford, without whose permission this excellent race venue could not have been accessed, news is that next year more entries will be accepted for this venue as a local football club hall has been secured? nothing like forward planning! Oh and not forgetting all the hard work put in by James and Nadine, without whom this series would never have got off the ground!

If you want to support racing in the Midlands then make sure you get your entries off now for the next race on the 25th May - Cannock Chase, you wouldn't want to miss out now would you? http://www.xcracer.com/jn_raceentry/viewevent.php?event_id=25