BUCS Student Mountain Bike Championships 2009

BUCS Mountain Bike Championships - UK Bike Park, Dorset
21 & 22 March 2009
Images & Report: Joolze Dymond

The British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) MTB Championships saw hundreds of students from over 50 universities head for Dorset's UK Bike Park in pursuit of downhill and cross-country glory - and a good time along the way!

UK Bike Park has been built and is run by members on land leased by the Forestry Commission. Over the years it has built up a formidable reputation and it now offers seven downhill courses, a National standard 4X track, a North Shore trail, a massive freeride trail plus a host of dirt jumps and masses of singletrack - something for everyone of a fat tyred persuasion!

After last year's Championships, where the riders literally had to swim for the finish, the near-summery conditions of the first day of downhill racing were a relief.

The race was full to capacity, with 300 hundred riders keen to show off their skills as they careered down the steep descent.

The course itself was a flat-out-take-no-prisoners sort of course, with plenty of thrills and spills along the way to keep the crowd entertained. Starting from a massive wooden ramp, riders pedalled hard to the 'Monster' jump before hitting a road gap jump, rock garden and the first of many bermed corners, tackling roots and berms along the way as the course got steeper and faster.

The atmosphere was electric, and riders took it upon themselves to take the new UCI ruling about downhill clothing (skin suits are no longer allowed) to heart and of course put on their own twist. A few super heroes were spotted in the mix, including Bananaman and Buzz Lightyear, whose wings may have given him an advantage if they hadn't fallen off at the first jump!

Prize of the best turned out students had to go to the riders of Southampton Uni though, who cut a real dash in their tweedy ensembles, complete with flat caps as they cruised down the hill, in full gentleman's attire!

Southampon riders dressed properly for the event

As in previous years, the masses of 'have a go' students are interspersed with some elite downhill riders. Defending champ Chris Hutchins was hot to trot in his new multicoloured outfit, with Jack Reading and Will Soffe amongst many others hoping to usurp him. Thanks to a late entry and being unknown to his fellow students, top rider Richard Thomas found himself well down the start sheet and far removed from the top seeded section. This could have been a case of make or break?

The race was to be decided by the best of two runs, and despite being down in amongst the slower riders it was Richard Thomas who found himself in the hot seat going into the second round, with Will Soffe sitting pretty in second and Hutchens way down hoping for a stunning comeback in the second run.

A range of superheroes - including Bananaman - hit the downhill course

Thomas was first to blast down the track scorching a massive 2 seconds off his previous time, but he then had to wait nearly two hours to find out if he'd done enough. Jack Reading came close, bettering his first run by 7 secs to sit up in second; Soffe didn't have such a sweet run and came down slightly outside his previous time, leaving him in third.

Hutchens was last down and couldn't keep up with the blistering pace and so Thomas walked away with a resounding win, leading his team to a bronze medal in the team competition along the way. Bristol, who had tried the mass approach by entering the most riders of any university, walked away with a silver team medal for their trouble. Top spot went to Manchester.

The women's downhill race had a massive entry but it was experienced Kerry Wigglesworth who secured the win. Despite crashing out in her first run, she went on to take gold with a superb sub two-minute run. Second and third places were taken by regular cross-country cross-country riders Briony Croft, resplendent in tweeds, and Meggie Bichard.

As the downhill came to close and the light began to fade there was no letting up on the action, with the night's entertainment coming in the form of a 'short track' 4X flood lit racing knockout!

The Student Championships are famed for their atmosphere - this years floodlit 4X was no exception

59 riders took part in this fun competition, jumping and furiously pedalling their hopeful way to the ?100 prize. It was local ringer, Steve Atkins, who showed the students a clean pair of heels, even if it was by a gnat's whisker. He took the money and ran!

After a night of fun and frolics thanks to some banging tunes and a bar full of cider, it was soon time to get the next part of the championships under way - the cross-country.

First up was the Sport race, with 183 competitors and three laps of the six mile course for the men and two for the women.

The course was a real challenge, taking in virtually everything UK Bike Park has to offer bar the North Shore! An uphill start on loose gravel was a cruel wake up call and was quickly followed by a quick limbo under the Monster tent, before heading out onto the course. First up was a snaking section of singletrack that weaved through the trees, spitting you out at the rear of the 4X track. After a quick descent riders found themselves climbing back up to the 4X track and hitting the dual descender course, which plunges into the woods and the bottom of the downhill course, where the crowds gathered baying for action. This left riders at the bottom of the hill used for UK Bike Park's uplifts, but with no uplift truck in sight, meaning a gruelling grind back to the top of the course.

Cross-country whippets and downhill demons battled it out, each relishing different parts of the course. It was a cross-country whippet in the shape of Southampton's Matthew Treviss who took the win in the men's Sport race while Ailsa Whitelaw led team mate Rosie Holdsworth to a St. Andrew's 1-2 in the women's Sport race.

Ailsa Whitelaw took the win in the ladies' Sport race

It was soon time for the championship race itself to be decided. Again a massive field lined up to compete for this title, including Sion O'Boyle, Hamish Batchelor and recently crowned cyclo-cross Student Champion Lee Williams.

First into the singletrack was Rob Friel closely followed by Batchelor, Williams and O'Boyle while the rest of the field rapidly strung out behind them.

Batchelor took the lead going into the technical descent, but this was sort lived as soon as he hit the climb. Williams started to move forward, opening up a gap by the top which he focused on extending over the remaining five laps. Williams went on to take the win with ease, riding the rest of the race smoothly, entertaining when he could, while Batchelor held off the challenge behind to take second. Rob Friel claimed third after picking off O'Boyle in the closing stages.

Despite rolling a tyre on the first lap Callum Chamberlain kept on track finishing fifth leading Leeds University to the team prize.

Lee Williams storming his way to the cross-country Champion title

The women's race got off to an interesting start when top rider Meggie Bichard took a wrong turn towards the beer tent.

This left Jessie Roberts to lead the 24-strong field into the singletrack, with Rachel Fenton and Bichard, now returned from her ecross-countryursion, close behind.

Bichard's downhill skills soon became apparent as the race tackled the technical descent and Bichard she opened a gap which she continued to capitalise on over three laps, easing herself into the win. Try as she might, Fenton was no match for Bichard and had to concede defeat and settle for second with Roberts taking thried.

Bichard's win, along with team mate Alison McKerrow, helped secure the team prize for Bristol, giving her a massive three medals to take home - a great weekend's result!

The UK Bike Park venue was a hit with riders

A big thanks to Jamie and the Extreme Know How crew for organising a cracking event as well as Monster Energy, who sponsored the event and supplied prizes and copious amounts of energy drink all weekend. Thanks also to everyone at UK Bike Park who worked tirelessly all weekend to ensure everyone enjoyed the ecross-countryellent facilities they have built up. Finally thanks to Ben at Torico for the timing and of course Paddy for making it all happen!

Rider comments:

Downhill

Matt Wells - 'Buzz Lightyear' - Loughborough University

Yeah I've come as Buzz Lightyear. It was a drinking costume at first, but then I thought it would make a good race outfit what with the aerodynamics n all. The wings were really helpful, I got a good lift from them on the first jump but they fell off just after but I still had a good run down and a decent time. I definitely reached infinity and probably beyond! This is my first year at Uni and so my first competition. It's so much fun - awesome in fact! Now it's time to head for the beer tent!

Rosie Holdsworth - St Andrew's

This is the first downhill race I've ever done and the first downhill course I've ever ridden so I did one run and thought I'd be pushing my luck to do a second. I did my practise runs and was completely terrified, but then second time round I had a massive grin on my face and really enjoyed it. One race run was enough though! All my friends are in the cycling club so they egged me on and I was a bit drunk when the sign on sheet was going round, so I agreed to have a go.

Cross-country is my thing though so I'm looking forward to riding that, that's what I've come for really, but I ended up riding this as well. Don't think I'll be resting up tonight, I think I'll be celebrating life after downhilling! It took us 10 hours to get here but its well worth it - a cracking weekend!

Laurence Webb - Southampton

We came in tweeds as we wanted to do something different this year - we like to do some sort of theme each year and we thought gentleman's attire would be spot on this weekend! Unfortunately cutting a dash down the hills didn't help as I crashed on both runs! Great day's riding and a great course.

Briony Croft - second lady - Southampton

Great to get silver. I'm really stoked and I'm sure the tweeds really helped! The coat tails flapping out behind you really helped on the jumps! It's good to see quite a few girls having a go, makes a real change. Now I'm off to have a go of the 4X and then the cross-country tomorrow.

I quite like having a go really, I started downhill in Scotland on my cross-country bike then I had a go at CwmCarn last year on a borrowed bike and really enjoyed it. It's good fun - I'm really enjoying it and it's a bonus to pick up a medal along the way! Prediction for the cross-country tomorrow? Well if my form is anything to go by probably 14th, I seem to be getting steadily worse at cross-country and steadily better at downhill!

Richard Thomas - Downhill Champion - Bath University

Really happy with getting the Student champs, nice. Good set of guys in the team too, I met them for the first time today but I think we've bonded and they all cheered me through on my second run and helped me through the tricky bits so all good. The track itself was awesome and it was a real good weekend.

To be honest I forgot all about entering the race, I entered late and the rest of the guys had no idea who I was so I got put down the bottom of the list. I managed to get past the riders ahead of me and managed to do well. My second run was the better of the two: I was one of the few that stuck with wet tyres and I think that paid off to be honest. The team is all on the first page of the results too so hopefully we can take the overall team title too that'd be awesome. It means we'll be in the Student Union paper which is nearly as important as being in the bar later!

Kerry Wigglesworth - Ladies' downhill Champion - Chester

I'm pretty chuffed with that, that's the first Championship I've ever won, so yeah pretty happy with that. I've been downhilling for two years now and last year was a really busy season and has helped me up my game: I'm getting pretty serious about my riding now.

It was a bit tense though because I fell off on my first run and thought if I crashed in my second run I'd be stuffed. I was pretty nervous waiting to get out there again, but fortunately it went OK.

Meggie Bichard - Third in the ladies' downhill - Bristol

I've always liked doing the downhill sections of the cross-country races that I do, so I thought why not give this a go! It was really tough, on my first run I nearly gave up, I did fall off quite a few times, it's quite slippery out there. If I could I reckon I might do a bit more downhill I really like it but I can't fit it all in with the cross-country.

Cross-country

Jonathon Britton - Sport cross-country - Aberystwyth

I've done nearly two laps without a chain! On the first 100 metres of the race it exploded on me and I didn't want to get beaten by a little thing like that! It was pretty tiring out there, but I managed to overtake a few people so that was impressive. I could have gone faster with a chain I guess but who knows it might have been an advantage after all!

Will Soffe - Sport cross-country - Swansea

Great weekend. We've been so lucky with the weather, the atmosphere is just brilliant, the UK Bike Park guys have done a blinding job with the venue and everyone seems so happy.

In the downhill yesterday it was pretty close, there were a lot of fast guys out there and it was a short track, which gave us a good race. There was a big gap between runs and it was getting pretty tense, but I managed to put a good first run together and felt good that I got third for my troubles.

Today I thought I'd give the cross-country a go, I haven't done one of these for a while and I managed to get seventh. The course was epic; it took in some of the downhill course on the way down, with lots of singletrack at the top followed by a steep push up. It was fun and great training; you never know I might do another one, one day!

Matthew Treviss - Sport cross-country winner - Southampton

It was awesome out there, the course was fantastic. It was pretty warm on the climb and it was granny gear all the way. My first ever race win, so I'm pretty chuffed. I was hoping to go out and give it my best, I wanted to get to the singletrack first as it got pretty tight there and I didn't want to get stuck behind anyone. I fell off a few times on the technical downhill and the pain is now starting to set in, that was crazy, but so good. All credit to the guys who organised the race they put on an awesome venue. I managed to extend my lead by taking it easy on the crazy downhill and as I'm so small the climb was perfect for me. I was too scared to look behind me though just in case someone was coming up, so it was head down and just go for it.

Lee Williams - cross-country Champion - Glamorgan

Yeah very pleased with that ride, I went out hard on the first lap to try and get a bit of a gap and then it was just a case of plugging away and hanging on. It was a matter of getting as much of a gap as I could really: there was so much flint out there you never knew what might happen. With a gap at least I would have a bit of a cushion if something should go wrong. I was gaining most of my time in the singletrack. It was a very demanding course and you were out of the saddle a lot. There was hell of an atmosphere out there, especially on the descents with everyone screaming at you to take the inside line, which was the trickiest. You didn't know whether to impress the crowds or stay safe! If someone was on the racing line I went for the easier options but if it was clear, well I tried to impress every time!

Great weekend, good weather, awesome race, great start to the season and now hopefully things are looking good for the rest of the year.

Hamish Batchelor - second in the men's cross-country - Durham

That was horrendous! I thought a long climb like that would really suit me but it was so steep on that corner that it was just horrendous. I managed to get into second spot coming into the singletrack and got past the guy leading, then I saw Lee over my shoulder coming up behind me on the climb and he went past me like I was standing still: I couldn't go with him at all. I spent the rest of the race out there on my own defending second. I had a puncture at one point but I fixed that pretty quickly. That was one lap too many for me!

The course was really good and reminded me a lot of some of the Swiss Cups I've ridden. With the the downhill technical sections it was fun. On the corner where they were cheering I went for the safe option! I came for gold but happy to have conceded to Lee and take the silver. Hopefully that's set me up for the season now. We'll see.

Meggie Bichard - Women's cross-country Champion - Bristol

I really enjoyed that, the downhill was fantastic and the uphill was hard but you couldn't go that fast so it suited me perfectly. It's been a great weekend, third yesterday and now gold today and it's been sunny both days - bonus! All the girls were together on the first lap, but I made up time on the downhill and got away, so yesterday's race really helped as I must have still been in downhill mode!

Rachel Fenton - second in the women's cross-country - Cambridge

It was slightly embarrassing as I got drunk at the cycling club dinner and told everyone I was going to win this one, I didn't factor in Meggie! She was so strong today; she was faster on the ups and faster on the downs. She had a slight mistake at the start, which meant she was sat behind Jessie and me in the singletrack and when she went past we couldn't get on her wheel at all. I've seen Meggie ride technical sections before that I've struggled in, so I know she's good. I've improved a lot these last couple of years too, but she was on top form today. A good win, well deserved.

The course was excellent, that hill was an absolute killer!