This weekend sees the British University Sports Association MTB Championships at Eastridge, Shropshire. Knowing full well what an entirely beer-fuelled event this is, we were mildly surprised to see the expected 450 competitors described as “athletes”, but to be fair there’s a lot of properly fit people amongst the student riding population.

Saturday is Downhill day on a brand new Eastridge course. Names to watch include Sue Mahony (Bath) defending her women’s title, with Elite-ranked riders Philip Shucksmith (Cardiff), Dave Duggan (Manchester), Mike Gray (Bristol) and Will Evans (Swansea) the favourites in the men’s event.

Then it’s time for the XC action. Will Simmons from Leeds is the one to watch, although he’s off to the World Student Cyclo-Cross Championships in Belgium the following weekend, so he might not want to completely muller himself.

And then of course there’ll be the rest of the riders, from over 50 universities, just there racing for the hell of it…