British MTB Champs Round 1 Sherwood Pines

Sherwood Pines Round 1
BCF Report HERE

Lloyds view from the races:

What a days racing, weather, course, record spectators, results, all brilliant, the BNPS got off to a superb start.

Hollie was fantastic she really mixed it up with the best girls in the country to achieve an amazing result. This was Hollie's first ever National race and she was a little nervous to say the least but as soon as the gun went and she knew she could stay with the leaders her confidence grew with every pedal stroke. The course was pretty flat and very fast but with extremely technical sections in the forested areas including two log jumps and two returns to the arena it made for some real close exciting racing.

There were 12 girls signed on for Hollies race and unbelievably 5 of them were on the Olympic Developement programme so to get any sort of result was going to be hard. After the first lap three girls had got away with Hollie in fourth and chasing hard, the leader Bethany Crumpton was in a league of her own with some fantastic lap times.

Lap two saw 2nd and 3rd place tiring slightly giving Hollie who was feeling stronger all the time the opportunity to close in on them, just as she was about to close the gap another rider crashed in front and Hollie had no choice but to stop, by the the time she got underway again the gap had re-opened but she never gave up and by the finish line was nearly upon them again.

Hollie was over the moon with her result, 4th place and only 19 seconds off the podium (if only). To cap her ride off she was the only one in the top six NOT on the O.D.P. amazing!!.

I also had a great race achieving my best ever result at a National, I'm not a great lover of flat courses but at the start line I felt I was well up for it, the first lap got underway and to my surprise I was able to stay with the leaders ( something I'd trained for over the winter) the pace was real fast but as we all settled down I was pretty comfortable.

As the laps went by we all split into groups and ended up jockying for position amongst a group of 6 or 7 all contesting for a place in the top ten we all took it in turn to test each other but I was easily able to adapt to any change of pace and I became more confident of my own strength the longer the race went on. By the time we hit lap 4 I was pretty sure I was the strongest in the group as every time I put in a little dig I would open a gap, but I didnt feel I could just ride away from everyone as they would take it in turns to pull me back, so as the last lap approached I started to plot where i could make my move to give me enough time to get a gap but not to far from the finish.

Just as I was about to make my move I made a mistake and went off course but luckily I kept my cool and after a miniute or so I was again on the back of the group, there wasnt much time left so I moved to the front and after taking a look at everyone in true Lance style I gave it full beans and immediately got a gap no one could react I gave my all around the last few bends and came across the line in 9th posistion.

Master - Male
1 Matt Barrett K.T.M-Pod - 5 laps in 01:39:43
2 Stephen James Torq - 5 laps in 01:39:44
3 John Veness Pendragon-Kalas - 5 laps in 01:39:45
4 Rob Enslin Aw Cycles / Giant Bikes - 5 laps in 01:39:46
5 Mark Hutt Aw Cycles.Co.Uk/Giant - 5 laps in 01:39:51
6 Andy Plewes Rnrmca - 5 laps in 01:42:05
7 Dan Lewis Raf Ca - 5 laps in 01:42:05
8 Paul Hopkins Offcamber - 5 laps in 01:42:13
9 Lloyd Bettles - 5 laps in 01:42:18

Youth - Female
1 Bethany Crumpton Halesowen A & Cc - 2 laps in 00:47:03
2 Lucy Garner Leicester Rc - 2 laps in 00:49:25
3 Hannah Barnes Pinarello RT - 2 laps in 00:49:28
4 Hollie Bettles Xcracer.Com/Trek - 2 laps in 00:49:45

Open male
20 Tom Wright Numplumz.com / Pitsford Cycles - 4 laps in 01:43:36

Vet Male
81 Jack Peterson Numplumz - 1 laps in 00:31:09 (Slacker ;-) )