The second round of the National Downhill Series in Fort William saw Joe Breeden and Jessica Stone blitz the slopes to take wins on a wet and wild course.
Elite categories
Joe Breeden (Intense Factory Racing) stormed to the win in the elite open category, clocking a time of 4:30.389 to take his second ever elite victory. Breeden finished eight seconds ahead of Luke Mumford, while Adam Brayford clocked 4:40.405 to take third place.
In the elite women’s, Jessica Stone clocked the quickest time of 6:03.772 to seize the win and the overall series lead. Nina-Yves Cameron (West Highland Wheelers) and Bethany McCully (Team Creation Cycles) were neck-in-neck for the second and third positions, with Cameron just pulling half a second ahead to secure the second spot on the podium.
Junior categories
George Madley (Madison Saracen Factory Team - UCI MTB Team) put down an incredible time of 4:35.304 to win the junior men’s category and clock the second fastest time of the weekend across all categories. Sorley Swabey (West Highland Wheelers) also had a very fast run to claim second place in a time of 4:40.105, while Hadley Coppard finished in third place.
Current world cup junior women’s leader Heather Wilson unfortunately had a crash before seeding and decided to withdraw from racing to leave the field wide open. Charlotte Tuckwood clocked 6:30.082 to secure the win ahead of Lacey Holmes (Lanark Race Team) and Lily Petrie.
Senior and expert categories
The expert open category saw Sam Conroy (Wheelbase DH Team) ecure the victory on 4:48.830, while Matthew Simmonds (Madison Saracen Factory Team - UCI MTB Team) took the silver medal position, and Tomasso Campana came in third.
Noah Mcelfatrick took the senior open win in 5:13.469, while Marlon Whitehead clocked the second quickest time just one second behind, and Luke Madley secured third.
Royal Navy Cycling's Emma Wood took the female win ahead of Mary Lynes and Jane Page.
Juvenile and youth
Reid Simpson took the juvenile open win, ahead of Ruari Younie and Millar Davidson, while drier conditions in the earlier races made for fast youth and juvenile women’s races. Megan Horne got the fastest time of the day in the women’s field in 5:43.893, while Katie Charlton (North Cotswold CC) finished second and Katy McGowan came third.
Darragh Ryan (Biking.ie) won the youth open race after a close battle with Stan Nisblet, with Nathan de Vaux finishing in third.
Masters and veterans
Stuart Houlston put down the quickest time in the masters category, just edging out John Crawford for the top spot. Daniel Fitton took third position, as James Gant came home fourth and Andrew Ramsay fifth.
In the veteran open category, Marcus Scott recorded a time of 5:19.053 on the Fort William slopes to take first place with ease. Neil White finished in second place while Adam Gould (INFLITE) came home third.
Former grand veteran world champion Steve Peat (Santa Cruz Syndicate) won the grand veteran open category by storm, clocking 5:08.997 to finish 20 seconds ahead of second place John Young. Mark Weightman took third place, while Nicholas Holling and Allan Miller rounded off the podium in fourth and fifth.
You can find the full results from the weekends racing here, and a huge thank you to all the volunteers and commissaires who worked through the wet and wild conditions.
