There’s a lot to love about the British National Downhill Championships.
words by Jamie Edwards, photos by Ian Lean
The UK National Champs is presented by Leighton Vans.
For one, National Champs is the big dog in UK downhill racing. The one-shot, once-a-year, one-time chance to prove you’re the very best the UK has to offer. It’s your one opportunity to prove that you’re the fastest, the most skilled and the most talented. There’s only a small handful of National Champions and getting those stripes is a big deal.
For the young guns, it’s a super important race in their career. Juveniles, youths and juniors only have a short window in their categories to win the title and show they’re a star of tomorrow. It’s a big tick on the CV and a big thing if you’re looking to make the British Cycling World Champs squad. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and the competition and pressure is fierce.
There’s a polar opposite to that as well though. In an odd sort of way Champs is also a very chilled weekend. It’s not part of a series, it doesn’t count towards any championship points and it’s a single weekend away with some fresh faces and a fresh race organiser.
This year’s champs was held at Rhyd-y-Felin in North Wales. The venue is just outside Llangynog and despite being under an hour from the motorway feels like deepest, darkest countryside. Steep slopes, fields of purple slate and thick, old forest surrounds the village. As a destination for a mountain bike race it couldn’t be more perfect.
The track was a real surprise. We didn’t know what to expect and having already raced a Pearce Cycles Event and a British Downhill Series at the venue this year there was a risk it would be more of the same.
Thankfully, Mike Marsden and crew put on a great show with a tough, technical top section and a lightning fast, jumpy, droppy, drifty bottom half. The uplift was quick. The track ran well. The riders loved it. Tough, challenging but very rideable and very fun.
Above is Marc Beaumont dropping into the finish line, across the lane and into the race village. It was a nice touch to see the organisers invest in a road closure to allow the race to finish in the bottom field.
What would a National Champs be without this guy, Steve Peat?
Peaty has been racing in the UK since day one. The earliest National Champs result we can find for him is from 1999 from Eastridge (just down the road from this weekend’s race) where he beat Crawford Carrick Anderson by 1.4 seconds. He’s raced pretty much every Champs since, winning 5 times.
He didn’t quite take the win this weekend … but showed a few young guns that he’s still got it with an 8th place.
Team Wideopen’s youth rider Morgan Tyrrell has been hungry for podiums all year.
His luck is finally changing and he came into the weekend fresh from a top spot at Rheola. Morgs went fastest in seeding then fastest in his final run to take the Youth National Champs jersey.
Kade Edwards didn’t take the junior win this weekend but he was easily my Man of the Match for pure style and balls out riding.
With a stacked field of racers things can start to look a little samey – Kade is loose as all hell, has fun on track and throws tricks where other guys are just trying to hang on. Love it. More please!
Intense Racing UK’s Joe Breeden – fast, but just not quite fast enough to take the win.
It’s been a pleasure watching Joe get faster and faster this year on his new team and scoring a heap of great results at World Cup and at the British Downhill Series. Keep it up lad!
Matt Walker won his first junior World Cup this year at Fort William. It seems only right he should add a National Champs title to the list in the same year.
Matt was crazy fast all weekend and battling it out with the likes of Joe Breeden, Kaos Seagrave and Kade Edwards in the junior field. Matt crossed the line two seconds up on Breeden and was, as you’d expect, over the moon. Looks like Matt just cemented his place on the World Champs squad.
Manon Carpenter. Third place for the second year in a row.
Manon must hate National Champs. To date, she’s never quite managed to take the win and the year on year battle between her, Rachel Atherton and Tahnee Seagrave never seems to go in her favour. A strong result of course, but no National Champs jersey.
Tahnee Seagrave. Second place for the second year in a row. Tahnee was looking fast, strong and on pace all weekend but admitted that “Sometimes your best isn’t the best on the day”.
Roll on World Champs …
And your UK National female champion. For the 10th time. Rachel Atherton.
Rachel has won almost every National Champs she’s ever raced – with just one DNF and one second place in her early career. Tracey Moseley is the only rider to have ever beaten Rachel at a National Champs, in 2006.
Rachel’s weekend was simple. She absolutely dominated the women’s field. She had a steady, chilled day on Saturday and then qualified fastest by three seconds and won by an incredible five seconds. Incredible riding, not least when you consider she’s only just back from injury.
Danny Hart was on the attack. He’s won and lost the National title in the past and was gunning hard to take it back.
There’s a certain no-pressure confidence that comes from being the underdog and attacking the guy in the jersey … and Danny’s speed on track looked like he was full of just that.
Sadly for Danny though, the streak of bad luck that has plagued him through 2017 seemed to extend into Champs. He took a big crash in seeding which knocked him down the field and then was off the pace and down into 3rd in his final run, just .47 off the top spot.
Watching Danny ride during practice on Saturday I would have happily put my money on him taking the win – he was lightning fast, visibly quicker than his competition. That’s racing!
One time Wideopen rider Charlie Hatton is having the season of his life. He moved on up to the Intense UK team into his first elite year and has just accelerated – thriving on the World Cup scene.
His crash at the last World Cup in Lenzerheide knocked Charlie just out of the top 20 overall … but this weekend proved he’s got the pace to compete with the fastest of the fast. He didn’t take the win but he did qualify fastest and crossed the line on Sunday afternoon into second place. Charlie’s final race run time was just 0.23 behind the win.
Some people write National Champs off and claim that it’s just down to luck on the day. They’ll say that a one-off event lacks the all round skill of an overall series win.
Well, Greg Williamson is the man who proves them wrong.
Greg won the Champs title in 2016 (beating Danny Hart to first place) and he just won the Champs title in 2017 as well.
Interestingly, Greg’s title wasn’t easily won. Greg didn’t go fastest in seeding and wasn’t fastest at any of the splits throughout the weekend. Crossing the line on Sunday afternoon he was on the same second as his nearest two competitors. I like that. It’s great to see a battle on track between the riders and great to see a hard earned, hard fought National Champs title.
Congratulations Greg – your 2017 Senior British National Downhill Champion.
We had to include one last shot – Luke Cockburn.
In amongst all the fuss about National Champions, stripey jerseys and World Champs hopefuls it’s nice to see someone who is just going fast, riding with style and having fun.
Luke has been a sponsored up racer in the past but is sending it in his tracksuit bottoms (tucked into his socks naturally) this season as a privateer. Keep it up Luke, we’re loving your work!
