British Mountain Bike Series Round 1 - Sherwood Pines Forest, Mansfield

The team had a mixed first National race of the season. With brodie and paul out with injury and illness respectively the team were already short on the ground but with an impressive pitch in the arena and a bright orange gazebo (which doubled up as a sun tanning booth if you spent too long inside)it was an exciting time for the team!

Alex finished last season ranked 2nd best in the country in the Juvenile category and a step up to Youth was always going to make things difficult but an emergency operation on New Years day to remove his appendix set things back further meaning this was only his second race of the year! However such is his tenacity, alex put in a solid performance to finish in a more than creditable 12th place.

Another set back! This time Ben came down with illness the day before the race and was unable to compete leaving Nat to carry the Monkey flag in the Junior category. Nat didnt just carry the flag, he planted it firmly in the Jungle with an outstanding performance in his first National Junior race finishing 7th after being as high as 3rd! It was a transformation for a rider who struggled to establish himself in the top half of the Youth field last year. The difference a winters training can make!

Chris took on a huge Elite field and with a sickness bug seemingly spreading through the team like wildfire made a brave decision to start the race after feeling unwell in the hours leadig up to the race. However it was not to be and after a promising start was forced to pull out after 5 laps.

With so many riders unwell Mark took the unusual step of taking to the start line in the Sport category for a one off appearence. Mark is usually our Road, TT and occasional Enduro man but gave it a go in a sport field of 80 riders. Mark started dead last as the gun went and steadily picked off riders for the entire race, never being passed himself and finishing in a great 22nd place!

It was a mixed day for the team as illness and injury took there toll but there were certainly highlights and lots to look forward to in the coming rounds of the series!


All photos are courtesy of Joolze Dymond photography