Location: Haldon Forest, Kennford, Exeter
Event: 8 June 2012

With only 10 days to go before entries close for the Ground Weaver Classic, The South West’s Regional Events Officer spoke to Talent Development Coach, Ric Jamieson, on why this type of event is so important for our aspiring Annie Last’s and Liam Killeen’s.

“I’ve been lucky enough to work with National Mountain Bike Coach Phil Dixon and fellow Talent Development coach Simon Watts, at last weekend’s round of the mountain bike world cup world cup in the Czech Republic,” Jamieson said. “ Today’s courses are becoming far more technical and tighter than we’ve seen and it sets to be the future in cross-country racing.

“Our aspiring racers need to get these technical core skills in place from an early age so that as they develop as athletes, the ‘basics’ are in place. This particular course was a rooty one with lots of climbs that couldn’t be just ridden, you have to constantly shift weight and lift wheels to get over them, the same can be said about the rocks too.

“This course was a world cup course so you’d expect it to be at that appropriate level, however, if any young racers are aspiring to get to their best and even race at this level, they must be able to ride this type of course albeit it at an appropriate level to their age.

“The Ground Weaver Classic I think brings all of this together; it will have the sprint eliminators which works on your starts, the trials stations to work on those core technical skills and the cross-country Races to make you fast and tactical. At approx 12 minutes per laps and featuring some great technical sections, it will reflect what I’ve witnessed at a level at which the event is aimed at.”

The introduction of this style of youth and juvenile cross-country racing in the South West has seen numbers grow dramatically and we believe that they will continue to do so, as this happens, the level of competition will grow also so it’s an ever increasing circle. Couple this with the work that the Talent Programme are doing with mountain bike cross-country regional schools of racing and with regular club sessions riders will become better.

Entry is available through British Cycling’s Online Entry System.