British Series Round 3 - Margam Park, Wales

The third round of the British Series took us back to an old classic venue in South Wales. Margam Park has been on the XC calendar since Mountain Biking began and is a popular circuit and well known as being a hard mans course due to its vicious climbs and rocky descents. The team went into the race on the back of some great results and it was fair to say everyone as in good spirit and good form!

A new and varied course made things interesting and a pre-ride on Friday was met by positive feedback from the team who not only enjoyed the course but the sunshine and dust that was being kicked up around the way. This was to be short lived as during Friday night the heavens opened and turned a dust bowl into a mud bowl. The fun off camber sections were now grit your teeth and hold on sections and the new shoot descent was like a rocky ice rink!

As we prepared Alex for the start line of the Youth event we were quietly confident that the youngster was going to thrive in these conditions and that his bad luck at National events this year was about to change. A great start saw him leading the race by over 30 seconds by the time he hit the shoot, and this was where it ended as an Elite female he was overtaking became entangled in his wheel costing him four minutes and with it the opportunity to win the race. Alex showed great determination and character to fight back to 4th position as his National curse continues.

In the Elite race our bad luck continued. A great start by Chris saw him enter the first descent in the top 10 but a nasty crash half way around the first lap left him with stitches in his shin and put an end to his race. Paul thrives in these conditions and took a steady start knowing it was to be a long race in these conditions and bravely opting to stick to a fast rolling Racing Ralph tyre. This approach looked to be paying off as he picked off riders gradually until a mechanical put paid to his effort and left him unable to complete the race much to his frustration.

With bad luck in both the Youth and Elite races it was left to Ben in the Juniors to give us something to cheer about… and that he did. A steady start and then some world class descending on the tricky course gave Ben his, and the teams first National podium of the year. A brilliant third place and a return to form for the talented youngster!

As evening came, Chris returned from the local hospital just in time to watch the team take part in the Team Relay. Paul took Chris’s place alongside Alex, Ben and our good friend Sue Clarke of Team Cannondale. A bad start (keeping in with the luck for the day) as Bens chain jumped off giving him a very near miss put us in dead last but after a good recovery the team finished a well deserved 3rd and took our second podium of the day!

On Sunday the team took part in a training excercise in the 50km enduro. They were minus Chris due to his injuries sustained the day before but Paul, Ben & Alex took to the long 25km loop around Margam in a light hearted mood but soon got into a quick rythm that saw them challenging for the top spots. The team were in third place working well together before a puncture took them down to 5th near the end of the race but a chase back meant they finished strongly in 4th/5th and 6th position.