Welsh Championships - Builth Wells, Wales

Our reigning Welsh Champion took a trip to the famous old course at Builth Wells this weekend with the hope of retaining the jersey he won last year in Pontypool.

One of the hottest days of the year was not going to make this one easy and with the renowned tough climbs and awesome descents that the course has to offer it was make or break for many riders. Monkeys are used to the heat though and some good preparation made sure that Ben went into this race with a great chance of keeping his red, white and green jersey firmly on his back!

A steady start by our reigning champion was a wise move as Ben let others do the work in the opening exchanges with main challenger, Joe Home. By lap 3 though Ben was out front on his own, playing out a tactical race and finishing on the top spot retaining the Welsh National Champion Jersey.

An account from our race side reporter...

When we arrived at Fforest Fields, Builth Wells for the 2010 Cross country Championships it was already the hottest day of the year so far. By the time Ben started the championship race in a mass start, some two hours later, the temperature was nudging 30 degrees and there was barely a cloud in the sky and no breeze. To add to the difficulty Builth Wells offers one of the best, but hardest Mountain Bike race courses in the UK. The climbing was brutal, steep and in full sunshine, the descents, rooty, technical, off camber and thankfully dry!

The main contender to Ben for the Welsh title was last years Youth Champion Joe Home. One of the top youth riders from last year making a great start to 2010 with a 3rd place at the second round of the British Mountain Bike Series and beating Ben in the first two rounds. Ben knew it would be a tough fight and he settled into an early pace just doing enough to stay with Joe on the first lap. This race was all about heat management, and Ben was taking on fluids well and at the pits was taking a second bottle further up the pit lane to douse himself with cool water. At the end of the first lap he looked comfortable and saw Joe starting to struggle on the hills in the heat. By the end of the second lap Ben had put a distance between himself and Home in second place and those two had ridden away from the rest of the field. Ben did not look troubled and increased his gap over Home for the next two laps until he crossed the line with several minutes in hand and crowned Welsh National Champion for the third time.

Congratulations Ben!