First Round of HSBC National MTB cross country series.

Thanks go to Austin Smith for submitting this great report below.

The First round of the HSBC UK National MTB Cross Country series kicked off this weekend at the Parkwood Off Road Centre at Tong, situated 4 miles from Leeds-Bradford city centres. With over 100 acres of woodland tracks, gullies, rocks and streams to explore, Shibden CC utilised the centre really well putting on a tough course that would ultimately test all five WVCC riders and their bikes, who made the trip north.
 
First-up was Max Hale in Saturday’s Open/Sport race. Max had a puncture on lap one and had to run to the pits, he got going again and finished 30^th.
Sunday morning saw Austin and Denis go off in the Vets and Super Vets. Austin had a high side incident on lap 1 that saw him knock his saddle completely off, and Like Max had to run back to the pits. A kind lady was able to lend Austin an Allen key to get it sorted and luckily the commissaire was feeling generous and allowed Austin to re-join the race, unfortunately having lost 10 mins, Austin’s race was ultimately over, but he used the remaining 4 laps as good training. Denis had a good race, and finished 19^th in what is a very populated category in 2022.
 
Sunday Afternoon saw Dom and Jim go off in the Junior Race. Dom loved the race and really enjoyed the course, feeling strong he rode to awesome 22^nd.
Unfortunately, another lap 1 incident saw Jim (riding his first National) get a puncture. Sadly, he wasn’t able to re-join the race.
It was a cracking course and a tough start to the series. Dom, Jim and Denis will all be racing again this weekend at Round 2, at Newcastleton just on the border of Kielder Forest.

Well done to all the WVCC riders good luck to those taking part in Round 2!