Giant have been the one of the leading supporters of UK mountain bike racing for years, now they’ve officially got their name at the top of the list. The 2002 British Cycling organised series will now be known as The Giant NRS National Mountainbike Point Series, thanks to the big vote of confidence and support from Giant after last year’s disease ravaged season.

Although NRS is the acronym for Giant’s “No Resonance System” – their sag-free 4-bar linkage XC design – the title appears to apply to both XC and DH series. Also on the sponsorship list are; Bikehut, Dirt Magazine, Fox, Gill, Hope, Impsport, MBUK and Scott USA.

As well as the chance of national glory, the Elite category races also carry UCI points for the first ten places (ten fastest overall in DH). The National Championships themselves also have UCI ranking for the first time ever. With this in mind – and the reduction in the size of various global racing squads – we’ll hopefully see a lot more of our top riders at UK events this season.

The dates and venue details are as follows;

7th April XC1 Thetford Forest, Suffolk

21st April DH1 Combe Sydenham, Somerset

12th May XC2 TBC

26th May DH2 Innerliethen, Scottish Borders

9th June XC3 Aston Hill, Aylesbury

20th / 21st July National Championships DH and XC HoptonWoods, Ludlow

11th August XC4 Trentham Gardens

18th August DH3 Garford, Nr Monmouth

15th September DH4 TBC (Scotland)

Hopefully they won’t be decimated by another livestock plague like they were last year and there’ll be enough of a turn out, thanks to the bait of UCI points, to relieve the gloom that seems to be hanging over racing at the moment.

For more information on DH Events contact – [email protected]

For more information on XC Events contact – [email protected]