Today British cycling released the dates and venues for the 2017 Cross-country series (XC), as well as the national championships and Marathon championships.  We've put together a little info on each round with race reports and video previews we have from other events.

Round 1: 1-2nd April 2017, Pembery


Round 1 Pembery Park, Carmarthenshire will open the series, It hosted the opening round in 2016, Maxine Filby wrote an interesting article on this venue last year in relation to the removal / reduction of the dropoff.  A  video preview of the course from 2016 can be found here. A race reports from the 2016 can also be found here.

Round 2: 22-23nd April 2017, Wasing Park


Wasing Park is a well known venue, it hosted the 2015 Southern Regional Championships and was used in 2016 by Southern XC, round 2 will be run by Southern XC co-organiser alongside Pedalon / Army CU. We're sure this event will be a big hit with everybody.

Round 3: 13-14th May 2017, Aske Estate


Hosted by Nutcracker Racing, another venue that has been used to host championships. Aske was used in 2011 to host the national championship however in 2017, a different course will be used. We have a video highlight of the 2016 course. Nutcracker know how to put on events and great courses so this is one we are looking forward to.

Round 4: 10-11th June 2017, Dalby Forest


Again hosted by Nutcracker Racing, Dalby forest saw its fair share of action in 2016 with the likes of Fumic, Fontana and Cooper making the trip to ride Dalby Forest for round 3 of the national series.

Round 5: 5-6th August 2017, Builth Wells


We can't think of a better place to end the series, the Welsh showground in Builth wells. We've a race report from 2015 from Hannah Attenburrow, Again hosted by John Lloyd Events who hosted the 2016 Fforestfields event means you're going to be in safe hands with a great course.

Cross Country Championships 22-23rd July


This will take place at the Cannock Chase, a super venue for some top action racing. This event will again be hosted by Run and Ride who hosted round 5 in 2016.

Marathon Championships - 30th July


The marathon championships will be hosted by Manx Mountain bike Club, if the course design is as good as the Manx100 then you're going to be in for a real treat. Press release