With the weather leading up to the Cannock Chase Summer Classic everything but pleasant, riders could have been forgiven for expecting the worst come race day. But race organisers Run & Ride had promised sunshine, blue skies and a great day’s riding for race day and they didn’t disappoint.

With the sun out, plenty of people had decided to come along knowing that Cannock always offers quality racing. The course, as expected, was described by one competitor as a return to “quality old school mountain biking”. Lots of twisty, rooty singletrack, lung-busting climbs and the odd fire road to recover on ready for the next section. With the weather sorted, a great course and support from sponsors Accelerade, Mt Zoom and Juice Lubes all was set for a fantastic day.

With a shuffle of the categories meaning riders entered on their ability rather than age there was a different look to the riders taking the start line in the main Pro Elite / Racing Snakes events, with Dan Fleeman (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching) and Nikki Harris (Fidea Cycling Team) taking convincing wins in their respective groups. Harris is clearly in great form ahead of the upcoming cyclo-cross season, riding up to fourth overall in the men’s group.

Matt Gee (Metaltek-Scott) put a first lap collision with Alex Welburn (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching) behind him to take second place with Ant White (Mt Zoom/Cannondale) pretty much solo from the gun taking third. In the ladies, Becky Preece (Red Rode Olympic CC) followed Harris home in second, with local rider Emma Birtles (Lichfield City CC) in third.

Proving that local knowledge of the trails can help, the top four in the Enthusiast category all live near Cannock Chase and use the area’s trails for training. Winning the battle between the local guys and in the category was Nick Popham (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching) who lead from start to finish, completing four laps in just over 1hr 15minutes. Having got caught napping at the start Matt Greensill (Rapid Racer Products) pushed hard, slowly reducing the gap to Popham but in the end it wasn’t to be and he had to settle for second.

Riding in his second event of the day was Will Cheaney (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching), clearly tiring towards the end Cheaney just about managed to hold off the fast finishing John Buchan (Lichfield City CC). The ladies set off just after the men but completed one lap less of the tough 3.5-mile course. Paige Coope (Moda-Bikemagic) decided to step up a category for extra training, a decision that clearly paid off as she took the first of two wins for Bikemagic’s very own racing squad. Terresa Billington battled her way around the course to take second place with Ailsa Curtis finishing third in her first ever mountain bike race.

The biggest category of the day was the Fun / First Timers, setting off was a 70-strong group with a mix of pale faced ‘not sure what I’m letting myself in for’ or testosterone-fuelled riders ready to rip up the trails. Along with the guys, there was strong group of ladies who proved they can comfortably mix it with the men on even the toughest singletrack sections.

Clearly a man for the Enthusiast category next time around, Ray Honour, returning to riding after one month off the bike with back injury, led from the start to finish, slowing putting time in to Neville Gunn (Solihull CC) to take the win with Gun second. Third place was a closer race between four or five guys, including local riders Martin Sutton (Lichfield City CC) and Mat Haste. A snapped chain ruled Haste out leaving the rest of the guys to battle it out over the remaining two laps.

In the end Martin Grantham got the best of the rest to take third ahead of Sutton. In the ladies race, Katherine Gilbert blasted off the start and was soon passing many of the men. Slowing over her last lap, Jayne Rogers started to catch Gilbert but the finish came too soon and Gilbert held on for the win with Rogers taking second, 24 seconds behind Completing the podium was Tracy Bromley who, after being told it was three laps thought that she could of beaten Rogers if she’d known… maybe next time, Tracy!

Due to a clash with the Youth Road Champs, the Junior/Youth and Juvenile fields were small but that didn’t affect the quality of the racing. They all set off together and it was interesting as some of the younger competitors mixed it with the older boys. First through on lap one of two was youth rider Dylan Kerfoot-Robson closely followed by Chris Welburn (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching) and Will Cheaney (Cycle Shack/Forme Coaching), both pushing hard to catch the front man. Next through completing their first lap was Junior leader William Hyde (Lichfield City CC) with Juvenile rider Joshua Gunn (Solihull CC), who was clearly loving the challenge of riding against the older boys. Out on the second lap the positions remained much the same as Kerfoot-Robson managed to hold off the chasing pair of Cheaney and Welburn. Gunn took the win in the Juvenile making it the three trips to the podium for the Gunn family during the day. Daniel Henden came home in second place with Richard Atkins (Lichfield City CC) getting the better of his team mate Samuel Jones (Lichfield City CC) for third place.

It was all change in the junior race as early leader Will Hyde punctured leaving Oliver Hawkes to take the win ahead of Hyde in second and Laurence Smith in third. The only girl in the categories was Youth rider Amira Mellor (Holme Valley), who got to ride with the boys for a bit of competition, clearly proving she could hold her own and managing to finish fifth overall.

As always there were bags of enthusiasm coming from the competitors in the under-10 and under-13 races. Led out by Run & Ride Performance Team rider Lee Gratton, the guys and girls blasted round the short courses proving they can race as hard as anybody else.

The organisers would like to thank everybody who helped and supported the event: the marshals, the girls at signing on and who baked the cakes, Chase Trails, Hibbs Lupus trust, the Forestry Commission, British Cycling, Mt Zoom, Juice Lubes, Accelerade and last but not least, all the competitors.

More information at www.gorunandride.co.uk or see the full results at http://goo.gl/rRiXE