When Stewart and Pauline Sidebottom announced that they’d be stepping down from organising the SAMS series at the end of last year, it looked like the end of the road for the long-running Southern series. But now a collection of organisers and clubs have combined forces to come up with a new series.

While SAMS was a downhill and XC series, there are now two separate sets of events, with the DH boys having created their own series. Which leaves the new Southern XC Series as, well, just what it says.

There are six rounds across the south of England from Bristol to Kent, including a sprint race at Eastway Cycle Circuit in London. To keep costs down, there’s no British Cycling affiliation and hence no ranking points available, but we can’t see that putting too many people off.

The dates are in our events calendar and entry forms and further information are on the Southern XC website.

The first round is at Checkendon, near Reading this Sunday (27th April).