UK cross-country star Oli Beckingsale has signed a two-year contract with Endura.

Beckingsale has spent more than a decade at the top of the UK mountain biking scene, competing in three Olympic Games and claiming silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.

“I am really happy to be riding for Endura for the next 2 years,” said Beckingsale, who will be kitted out with the same gear as Endura’s road squad – Look bikes, SRAM components and Continental tyres.

“It is a strong British company with a long history with mountain biking and will give me the product, support and flexibility to work towards my long term goal of not just competing in the London Olympics but producing a result that I can be proud of.

“It’s not all about the Olympics though and there are a lot of big races in the UK and abroad that I want to play a part in next year, in particular the home World Cup round in Dalby and the UK National Championships

“It is also great that the hardware suppliers of the road team, Look, Sram and Continental have also come on board with Endura mountain bike racing and I could not ask for better equipment to do the job in XC racing.”

Endura have also extended their sponsorship into track racing, with Chris Pritchard, who won national Keirin bronze and represented Scotland at last year’s Commonwealth Games, joining the ranks.

“2010 was a great year for me, with the Commonwealth Games and my performances at the National Track Champs.”, said Pritchard.

“It’s great that a Scottish business like Endura has come in to held fund my progress, and I am very excited to be using and help develop the excellent Equipe clothing range.”

Endura’s Jim McFarlane added: “After putting so much investment into the road team we were keen to ensure that the Endura and Equipe brand reach also extended into other cycling disciplines, so we were keen to back some athletes in MTB and track cycling.

“Chris’ involvement will be very useful in helping Endura make its first steps towards track-specific Equipe products, which is an interesting niche within cycling and we are delighted to have such high quality representation on the boards.

“We have a long and well-established background in XC in general and we have known Oli for a very long time having provided various kit for him over the years.

“Oli isn’t just fast, he is a very switched on rider and the ideal guy for us to be working with on a separate focused range of performance XC kit that is the MTB equivalent of our Equipe range – and that’s exactly what we’ll be sweating over for the next year, hopefully launching the range in 2012.”