Leisure Lakes Team Blog

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)…