Race Report!

Southern XC Round 3 – Crow Hill, New Forest, Hampshire

Results…

Alex Baker	1^st	Juvenile
Ben Roff	2^nd	Youth
Nat Jarvis	5^th	Youth
Matt Stevens	13^th	Masters
Paul Beales	10^th	Elite

The team took a trip south to the beautiful New Forest, which is to hold this year’s National Championships for the third round of the Southern XC series in which the team wanted to test themselves on the course that will eventually crown the champions of the UK later this year.

The course itself didn’t look anything too out of the ordinary at a glance but after inspection, the soft sandy corners and short sharp climbs one after the other leaving no time for a rest turned into one of the toughest courses of the year so far.

Alex quick out the starting gate… (Courtesy of www.joolzedymond.com)

Alex, of course, took it in his stride and rode away from the front right from the gun, pulling out a lead within seconds and finishing comfortably over a minute ahead of the chasing pack. Is their any stopping our youngest Monkey?

A rare smile on the bike as Alex has time to enjoy his ride… (Courtesy of www.joolzedymond.com)

The youth race was an exciting affair with our newest rider Ben lurking in the top 3 before riding away to take 2^nd with a great performance and Nat putting in a brilliant performance to finish 5^th in what was his best result of the season.

Left to right: Ben took a comfortable 2^nd whilst Nat had a storming 2^nd lap… (Courtesy of www.joolzedymond.com)

In the masters Matt put in another solid display against some tough competition to finish in 13^th whilst Paul struggled on the course and finished in a disappointing 10^th in Elite.

Paul struggling on one of his five laps… (Courtesy of www.joolzedymond.com)

It was certainly worth going down to check out the championship course and now the Monkey’s will know what to expect when it comes to the biggest race of the year!!