The National Mountain Bike XC Championships kicked off at the weekend, opening at the Sherwood Pines course in Nottinghamshire. Paul Hopkins was racing in the Vets’ category, defending his title which he has won in both 2010 and 2011. Paul finished in second place at the end of the four lap race, one and a half minutes behind Lewis King (Beeline Bicycles). Andy Parsons finished in 27th place from the large field of 100 starters, around eight minutes behind Paul.
Emma Bradley raced in the Elite Women’s event, which was dominated by GB rider Annie Last. Emma came home in 20th place.
The WTTA Hardriders series continued with the 24 mile Bath CC event, which takes in our hillclimb course at Mere during its route. Simon Barfoot was quickest of the three GDW rides in 14th, with a time of 1.05.13. James Chant was nearly a minute further back on 1.06.07 for 17th while Grahame Reed finished in 1.13.33 for 33rd. Simon Rouse was a non-starter.
A couple of GDW riders have unfortunately been in the wars in the last few days. Chris Mullett was racing at Thruxton on Sunday and got caught up in the domino effect in the bunch after someone else’s crash, leaving him with several cuts and bruises. Maria Phillips had a car pull out in front of her whilst riding through Salisbury on Monday. After a check over in hospital Maria is basically ok but, like Chris, has been left with big bruises and also a stiff neck – best wishes to both of them and let’s hope they are feeling better quickly.
Both the hillclimb and time trial series start next week, see the calendar for details. The plan is to present the mountain bike trophies and prizes after the first tt on Wednesday so if you are one of the winners then please come along to collect your goodies
There are awards for –
Nigel Brown
Kim Little
Josh Day
Lawrence Pitman
Liam Teesdale
Karen Allum
Toby Easby
Kian Calloway
