National Points Series – Round 4 – Caersws 16/08/09

It was a windy weekend in Wales for the 4th round of the National Points Series (NPS) held at Caersws, Powys. The track is well known for its steep incline and relatively short runs, making every split-second count.

The track was very similar to that used for the 2007 Nationals with some nice variations all the way down to the finish. As the riders left the start ramp there was a big step down jump to clear straight out the box, and with the strong winds blowing sideways this was not one for the feint hearted. There were many lines to choose from up top making it very interesting and with a steep and technical mid-section including further jumps and drop-offs it felt very tight and fast. After crossing the bottom fire road the track was flat-out wide open with big swooping turns and drops including a big table then an amazing section of gap jumps into the field. The final field section had some man made wooden jumps incorporated, but these proved very awkward as the cross winds continued to throw riders off throughout the weekend.

Saturday is now all day practice with no seeding run, but the riders found it hard to get a rhythm going and pushed for pace throughout the morning session, after lunch they found the rhythm and lit it up for the final afternoon runs feeling comfortable to leave the venue ready for race day on Sunday.

An early start Sunday morning saw all the team members on the first uplifts of the day, bagging two practice runs before seeding.

First off for her seeding run was Emma Wareham in the Elite Womens category posting a solid time of 2:05.746 placing her 5th and 10.473 secs off 1st place Katy Curd.
Next down were the Expert Men with Andy Woodvine (Woody) going first, with an inconsistent run, crossing the line with a time of 1:46.614 putting him 18th and 6.845secs off the leader Luke Marshall.

Then it was the turn of Richard Challinor (Chally) who crashed out on the steep switch backs, but got back on and posted a time of 1:48.228 putting him back in 23rd and 8.459secs off the leader.

The final team member to hit the track was Jethro Whitfield (Jed) who after a big crash in practice earlier that morning posted a solid run of 1:46.714 putting him 20th and 6.945scs off the leader.

Everyone in the team knew that they were capable of more and wanted to prove this in the race runs.


Again Emma was the first member of the Leisure Lakes team to prove herself in the race with an amazing run of 2:02.790 knocking almost 3 secs off her seeding run and putting her on the Elite Womens Podium in 3rd Spot.

Now it was the turn off the Expert men with Chally going first with a blinding run of 1:40.868 taking almost 7.5 secs off his seeding run and putting him on the Podium in 5th spot only 1 sec off the leader Kyle Farrow.



Then it was Jeds turn posting a quick race time of 1:45.262, 1.5 secs faster than his seeder placing him in 15th position.

With Woody being the fastest qualifier this meant he was the last team member to do battle, and he brought it home with a time of 1:42.701 almost 4 secs faster than seeding and putting him in 12th spot.

Overall it was an outstanding weekend for the Leisure Lakes Downhill Team with podium postions in Elite Women and Expert Men and a further twelve and fifteenth position finishes in Expert Men.

I would like thank everyone for their hardwork and we look forward to the next round in September.

Sandy Plenty (Team Manager)

NPS XC National Champs

What a weekend! One minute it was sunny the next torrential rain. Saturday was practice day. This was a hard course with one big up and one big down. It was a very technical climb with lots of roots off camber, rocks and of course lots of mud. Once you got to the top of the course the views were amazing but there was no time to admire them. It was time to descend, which was the hardest descent I have ever ridden let alone raced, it was the red run of a downhill course. Very technical, steel, big roots and a rock gully. Once you hit the bottom it was straight back to climbing, no rest bite on this course!

I had a good race. No mechanicals and I beat a few expert riders, which has given me the confidence, as this is where I’ll be next season. All in all an excellent weekend on a “proper” mountain bike course ~ Neil Hayward

UK National Champs 2009 - INNERLEITHEN

It was another wet weekend for Team Leisure Lakes (minus the quarantined Rich Challinor), who once again headed north, this time to Innerleithen for the UK National Downhill Champs.

The track was a mixture of old and new – some slippery straights led into the first wooded section where the fastest riders hopped high above the roots. Jump over the fire-road and it was into the darkness; flat-out through the ‘tunnel’ and back into the daylight through some ruts, briefly turning back into the woods before launching onto a grassy straight and round a widely taped corner - rumour has it that Peaty wasn’t even sniffing the brakes through here…
Down a long rut and drop steeply off the fire-road, once again returning to the woods for some typical Inners-tight-corner-action, leading nicely into the brand-new finish section. Somewhat reminiscent of Llangollen, the track wove steeply down through a series of switchbacks and into a final greasy, off-camber chute which would claim many victims over the course of the weekend.

Several hours of rain meant that conditions were far from ideal as practice started on Saturday. The two mile ride to the uplift, combined with the push up to the start of the track made it hard to get in more than five runs. Tom, the team’s legendary mechanic was busy all day keeping the bikes running smoothly in the mud. Tyres were swapped by the dozen as the sun appeared and dried the course out, only for the heavens to open again as practice drew to a close…

After a less-than-peaceful night’s sleep, thanks to the noise from a nearby all-night rave (yes, RAVE!), it was race day. More overnight rain had left the track greasy and the team unsure as to how conditions would be for seeding and race runs.

In the Senior Women’s category, Emma Wareham had a frustrating race run, catching a Masters rider who fell in front of her in the switchbacks. Having crashed on the final chute in seeding, Emma was annoyed not to have a clear run through the section this time around, but with the Senior Men already on their way down the hill, there was no time for re-runs. Although the incident cost her valuable time, she was pleased to come away in 7th place with a time of 3:56.4.

With no Chally, it was left to Jed Whitfield and Andy Woodvine to fight it out with the nation’s top riders in the Senior Men’s Championship. After putting in a solid performance in seeding, Jed was unlucky in his race run, with his chain coming off at the top of the course, writing off his chances of a good result. This meant it was all down to Woody who, having clocked an outstanding time in his seeding run, was feeling the pressure. Always the professional, he didn’t let it affect him and stormed down the hill in a time of 3:02.6 to take 33rd place – a fantastic result!

Although initial thoughts about the track were mixed, it turned out to be one of the best tracks so far this year and definitely worthy of the National Champs. Innerleithen is often slated for being over-used but the combination of retro sections from old tracks and the awesome new finish made it an all-round quality weekend. Yet again Team Manager Sandy Plenty brought home another good result, finishing 6th in Masters 1 – massive thanks to him for all his patience and hard work (and for getting the van stuck in the field)!

Next stop: NPS Round 4 in August (wherever that may be)…