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Britain’s top raceheads congregated this weekend at Salop’s fabled Hopton Castle venue to do battle at the National Mountain Bike Championships. There were few upsets in either the cross-country or the downhill events, with favourites Oli Beckingsale (Scott USA/MBUK), Caroline Alexander (Specialized), Steve Peat (Orange England) and Tracy Moseley (Team Kona) all claiming their respective titles.
Unusually fine weather greeted the combatants at the Pearce Cycles-organised event, and despite entries being down on the NPS series, 300 cross-country riders and 260 downhillers still turned up.
A couple of brief showers spiced up the proceedings in Saturday’s Downhill event. World Cup leader, Steve Peat, was hunting for a third National title, with arch-rival Rob Warner (Giant UK) squaring up for a fight in the pre-race banter. In the event, Peat crashed during his run, but Warner encountered his own problems and couldn’t capitalise, leaving Steve to remount just in time to beat newly wed-yocal, Stu Hughes (Dave Mellor Cycles), who clinched a fine second.
Tracy Moseley (Team Kona) continued her fine season by winning the slightly depleted Women’s Downhill event. With Fionn Griffiths out with a hand injury suffered at one of the Dragon events, Tracy was firm favourite, although she was pressed all the way by Helen Gaskell (Halfords Bike Hut) a mere three seconds back. Obviously Hopton’s pedally course did little to tire Moseley, who returned on Sunday to win the Sport Women’s cross-country race and disprove all those inaccurate stereotypes about downhillers being drunken layabouts.
A technical course faced the riders in the cross-country, with the front-runners looking to test the water for next week’s Commonwealth Games. In the Men’s race, the leading trio of Barrie Clarke (Helly Hansen), Nick Craig (Pertex/Planet-X) and Beckingsale gapped the field early on, working together for the first two laps. On the third lap, the Scott USA/MBUK rider attacked his senior adversaries and proceeded to put 35 seconds into them by the start of lap three. Neither Clarke nor Craig could challenge the victorious Bristolian, with Clarke outsprinting Craig for the silver gong.
Starting five minutes behind Beckingsale and the senior field were the Espoirs. Subaru/Gary Fisher rider, Liam Killeen, romped away from the field, eventually overtaking all but four of the Seniors in a time that would have placed him second behind Beckingsale!
No surprises in the Women’s Cross-Country, where Caroline Alexander (Specialized) systematically dismantled the field, coming in nine minutes ahead of second-place Sue Thomas (Team Y2K). Assuming her usual position on the final step of the podium was Bianchi-Motorex rider Jenny Copnall.
The form shown by Beckingsale, Alexander and Liam Killeen (Subaru/Gary Fisher) bodes well for the upcoming Commonwealth Games event next Monday. Britain’s primary challenge comes from the Canadian squad, with riders such as World Champion, Roland Green.
You’ll find the top three results from each category below:
Cross-Country
| Senior Men | ||
| 1. | Oli Beckingsale | Scott USA/MBUK |
| 2. | Barrie Clarke | Helly Hansen |
| 3. | Nick Craig | Pertex/Planet-X |
| Senior Women | ||
| 1. | Caroline Alexander | Specialised |
| 2. | Sue Thomas | Team Y2K/Trek |
| 3. | Jenny Copnall | Bianchi |
| Espoir (Under 23) | ||
| 1. | Liam Killeen | Subaru/Gary Fisher |
| 2. | Steve Farmer | Cycleworks.co.uk |
| 3. | Simon Richardson | Marin |
| Junior Men | ||
| 1. | Steven Clarke | MBUK/Scott |
| 2. | Jon Locke | |
| 3. | Alex Cutler | Red Kite Cycles |
| Junior Women | ||
| 1. | Sophie Johnson | Scott / MBUK |
| Youth | ||
| 1. | Richard Firth | Sowerby Bros CR |
| 2. | Ian Legg | Principia Racing |
| 3. | Clifford Langdon | Ralph Colemans |
| Youth Women | ||
| 1. | Nikki Harris | Pearce Cycles |
| 2. | Amy Hunt | Helly Hansen |
| 3. | Catherine Niblock | Riks Bikeshed |
| Juvenile | ||
| 1. | John Smedley | Sid Valley C.C |
| 2. | Steve O’Neil | |
| 3. | David Fletcher | Newark Castle |
| Juvenile Women | ||
| 1. | Amy Thompson | Bike Plus |
| 2. | Abi Greenaway | |
| 3. | Marie Stuart | Keswick Racing |
| Master Men | ||
| 1. | John Veness | Team Kona |
| 2. | Paul Hopkins | Team Saracen |
| 3. | Iain Nimmo | Merlin Rocklobster |
| Master Women | ||
| 1. | Belinda Flattery | Cheltenham & Co |
| 2. | Gaynor Lea | Climb On Bikes |
| 3. | Deborah Wilkins | Nationwide Building Society |
| Fun | ||
| 1. | Geoff Wilson | |
| 2. | Dave Lee | |
| 3. | Luke Fowler | Pearce Cycles Racing |
| Open | ||
| 1. | Roy Davies | |
| 2. | Jeff Wherlock | Clayton Cars |
| 3. | Marcus Robertson | |
| Sport | ||
| 1. | Graham Warby | |
| 2. | Jeremy Olsen | |
| 3. | Henry Turgoose | |
| Sport Women | ||
| 1. | Tracey Moseley | Team Kona |
| 2. | Helen Gaskell | Halfords/Bike Hut |
| 3. | Caroline Gay | London Phoenix |
| Veteran Men | ||
| 1. | Kevin Townsend | Climb On Bikes |
| 2. | Ian Wright | Pearce Cycles |
| 3. | Garry Clark | Evans Cycles |
| Veteran Women | ||
| 1. | Jackie Roberts | Beyond Mountain Bikes |
| 2. | Averil Milligan | Team Caledonia |
| 3. | Carol Tilley | Xtreme |
| Grand Veteran | ||
| 1. | Dave McMullen | Evans Cycles |
| 2. | Reg Haig | Marie Curie |
| 3. | Dave Lloyd | Didcot Phoenix |
| Grand Veteran Women | ||
| 1. | Liz Slater | John Lloyd Race |
| Super Veteran | ||
| 1. | Ian Small | Zodiac C.R.C |
| 2. | Jim Thomas | Prescot Eagle |
| 3. | Graham Pooley | 1st Gear Cycles |
| Downhill | ||
| Senior | ||
| 1. | Steve Peat | Team Orange England |
| 2. | Stu Hughes | Dave Mellor Cycles |
| 3. | Stu Thomson | |
| Senior Female | ||
| 1. | Tracy Moseley | Team Kona |
| 2. | Helen Gaskell | Halfords Bike Hut |
| 3. | Helen Mortimer | Giant UK |
| Master | ||
| 1. | Martyn Reeley | Mountain Cycle UK |
| 2. | Steve Jones | |
| 3. | Robin Kitchin | Animal/Schwinn |
| Master Female | ||
| 1. | Karen Ballantine | All Terrain |
| Veteran | ||
| 1. | Alan Blood | |
| 2. | Rob Munn | Dysons Cycles |
| 3. | Rob Kinsey | Marie Curie |
| Junior | ||
| 1. | Gee Atherton | Animal/Muddy Fox |
| 2. | Marc Beaumont | Royal/Orange |
| 3. | Dan Stanbridge | Muddy Fox |
| Junior Female | ||
| 1. | Jo Tindley | T.D.R Giant |
| Youth | ||
| 1. | Lee Pincher | Royal Ancillotti |
| 2. | Ian Cowan | Dartmoor Cycles |
| 3. | Tom Deacon | Pearce Cycles Race |
| Youth Female | ||
| 1. | Rachael Atherton | Animal/Muddy Fox |
| Juvenile | ||
| 1. | Brendan Fairclough | |
| 2. | Simon Bartle | |
| 3. | Sam Horsfall | Team Orange UK |
| Open | ||
| 1. | Dave Richardson | Beaumont Racing |
| 2. | Craig Bullen | |
| 3. | Rich Jones | Brooks Cycles In Gear |
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