Night of the Knobbly Tread - Race Report

23-09-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race Reports 

As always the Exposure Lights Night of the Knobbly Tread race produced some close fast racing across the categories as everyone vied for the excellent prizes on offer from headline sponsors Exposure/USE and the additional prizes from West Drayton MBC club sponsor The Specialized Concept Store...

Night of the Knobbly Tread - Saturday Night Race Action

16-09-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

As the sun sets on Saturday 17th September the Open Men's category will lead the charge into the darkness of Black Park for the 2016 edition of Night of the Knobbly Tread. Situated close to Pinewood Studios and well known as the location for the Forbidden Forest in the Harry Potter films, Black...

Hadleigh International - Top drawer racing in the UK

29-07-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

International quality XCO racing returns to the UK on Sunday as many of the World's finest XC talent use the Hadleigh International as a tune up for the Rio Olympics just three weeks later. With the start of the 2016 Olympic Games barely a week away, the Hadleigh International provides a timely...

Welsh XC Series Round 4 - Race Preview

21-07-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

Ystwyth Juniors and the West Wales Cycle Racing Team are co-hosts for the fourth and final round of this year’s Welsh Cross Country Mountain Bike Series on 31st July, at a new venue to the northeast of Aberystwyth. The venue is Allt Ddel, a wood situated between Bow Street and Penrhyncoch that is...

Hadleigh Park International - Event Preview

15-07-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

This weekend sees the inaugural Hadleigh Park International Mountain Bike race, where all three Male London 2012 Mountain Bike medallists will return to the Olympic course at Hadleigh Park as one of their final races before Rio 2016. Marco Fontana, Nino Schurter and Jaroslav Kulhavy – bronze,...

Essex Summer Evening Series – Round 7 Report

30-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race Reports 

With 5 minutes to go before the start of the race, most of the riders were still huddled under the signing-on gazebo trying to shelter from the worst of the rain and strong winds. It was then that we noticed a heard of cows heading down the B line of Oak Tree Drop. The cows roam free on the...

Essex Summer Evening Series – Round 6 Report

30-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race Reports 

Heavy rain again fell the day before round 6 of the Essex Summer Evening Series which seems to be a regular occurrence this summer but luckily the Potash Woods course held up well with only a few sections with the odd puddle. The senior males set off first as usual with the race taking a familiar...

Essex Summer Evening Series - Round 5 Report

11-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race Reports 

There was heavy rain and thunder storms forecast for round 5 of the Essex Summer Evening Series but luckily these passed either side of us with only a very light drizzle falling mid way through the race to dampen down the dusty conditions. The dry track it made for some very fast racing. The adult...

Friday Night Summer Series - Kilworth Springs Preview

10-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

Long running evening XC race series, the Friday Night Summer Series aka FNSS returns to Kilworth Springs this evening Friday 10th June. Course designer Dean Barnett has added some new elements to spice up a regular venue and racers can sample the delights of new features; 'the wall', a mini...

Midlands XC Regional Champs Preview

03-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race News 

This Saturday sees Round 4 of the Midlands XC Series at highly lauded venue Eckington Woods which many have described as their favorite course of the series. The event also doubles as the Regional Champs with Midland based riders vying for championship medals and a decent haul of National ranking...

Essex Summer Evening Series - Round 4 returns to Hadleigh

03-06-2016  Craig Bowles   XC Race Reports 

Hadleigh Park sits on an exposed ridge overlooking the Thames estuary and can be windy even on a calm day, with mainland Europe being battered by storms the mountain bike track was taking the full force being lashed by gale force winds and sheet rain. Setting up the course was a challenge with the...