Innes Graham (Propain/Dirt) and Katy Curd (Rose Vaujany) came out on top in round three of the British Cycling Downhill MTB Series staged at Rhyd-Y-Felin in Wales last weekend.
19-year-old Graham from Peeblesshire took victory by a hair’s breadth, squeaking ahead of second-place Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) by less than half a second to sweep the win in the men’s elite race.
In an astonishingly tight affair there was little more than a second between the first five riders, with Philip Atwill (Propain/Dirt) in third, Joseph Smith (Chain Reaction Cycles/PayPal) taking fourth and Matthew Simmonds (Madison Saracen Factory Team) in fifth.
Graham was following up on taking second place in the opening round of the series, whereas Peat had managed a sixth-place finish at the same stage.
In the women’s race Curd delivered a more comfortable victory, taking first by more than 18 seconds from runner-up Ellie Maxfield (Static Clothing/CaerswsDH Racing) with third-place Lucy Drees (Grips Bikes) a further five seconds back.
In the expert men’s race Dan Farley (British Downhill series) took victory by a little more than half a second from Brad Mather (Empire Cycles) with James Hurst (One Vision Global Racing) back in third, and in the senior men’s race Kieran Davies (Plush Hill Cycles/Mudhugger) came out on top by a little under four seconds from Chad Boxall (2:1 Racing UK).
Charlie Hatton (Wideopenmag.com) won the junior men’s race by 2.8 seconds from Kaos Seagrave (Transition Factory Racing), while the junior women’s category was won by Aston Tutt (pedalabikeaway) from Megan James (T-Mo Racing).
Megan Whyte tasted victory in the Women’s category, completing the course a whopping 35 seconds quicker than her nearest rival Lindsay Hanley (NX2MTB).
Neil White (Fanatik Bike Co) was 1.7 seconds quicker than his nearest rival in the Master Men category, while the Veteran Men’s prize went to Will Longden (Madison Saracen Factory Team).
Best of the Grand Veteran Men was Steven Felstead (Global Bikes-Nukeproof), who was 2.3 seconds ahead of Richard Binns (Revolution Bike Park).
Jamie Edmondson (Transition Factory Racing) took the win in the Youth Men’s race ahead of Sick Skills pair Henry and George Kerr in second and third respectively, while James Elliott (Descend Hamsterley) was top in the Juvenile Men category.
