Round 4 HSBCUK British National Downhill Series

Rhyd-y-Felin, North Wales

images by Ian Lean / words and parting shot by Jamie Edwards

Round 4 of the British National DH Series already? With just one race left in the season we’re already well into the re-invention and re-imagination of the UK’s top downhill series.

We started at CwmCarn in South Wales, moved on to Fort William and then back to South Wales to Rheola. Glencoe came next for National Champs and now, another Welsh one, to Rhyd-y-Felin on a classic British race track.

Rhyd-y-Felin is a really special venue. It’s hidden away, deep in the North Wales hills in a beautiful and remote valley. It’s one of those places you might never even know exists if it weren’t for bikes and bike racing.

Rumour has it the track here was originally built by now-Atherton Racing boss Dan Brown and Richard “Cunny” Cunynghame. It’s changed a lot over the years but it’s still big, tough and technical and a proper ‘national’ standard hillside.

You’d think that clashing the UK’s top downhill series with the World Cup at Mt Saint Anne would be a bit of a fuck up, right?

Well, not entirely. It was actually done on purpose. You see, you need 40 UCI points to race a World Cup, earned at UCI category 1 events. If the events are always full of World Cup riders with loads of points in the bank, there’s no chance for the young hopefuls to earn anything. They’re then forced overseas to less competitive races to try to earn what they can’t get back home.

So, British Cycling and the race organisers made the event a Cat 1, clashed it with the World Cup and gave some fresh talent a chance to shine.

The photo above is Jay Williamson, flat out and on his way to earning some UCI points.

For the first time in a long old while, the National Series is being run by separate organisers, rather than a single team. This weekend was MIJ Downhill’s turn, the second of three events in the series under their stewardship.

Was the race perfect? Nope, it wasn’t. We had a late start due to medics and marshals going missing, practice was cut early and crashes on track caused long delays. The top two-thirds of track were inaccessible to spectators and camera folk. There were few brands attending to show off their kit. Those that did support the series weren’t gathered around the finish line, which detracted from that ‘buzz’ you’d see at a busy event.

All of that said, 2018 is year of picking rebuilding downhill and growing it again. We had 216 rider entered on the same weekend as a World Cup. The appetite for racing is there and guys like MIJ are making it happen.

We want to see it grow and improve and we’ll speak out when we see room for improvement… but MIJ and the other organisers all deserve bloody medals for what they’re doing this year.

Greg Berry ladies and gents. On his way to smashing 23rd place in the Expert category. You see, we don’t only cover the elites!

When Mr Letsavew himself Ajay Jones heard that Ben Deakin had challenged him to race he was more than up for it. He borrowed Team Wideopenmag manager Big Dave’s V10 and got stuck in to the masters category!

Unlucky for Ajay, Deaks got the better of him but he had a belter of a weekend by all accounts. Rumour has it he’ll be back for the next one in September to try and even the score!

Another rider we don’t see much of, FS Funn’s Harry Molloy.

Harry took a weekend out from the World Cup to try some British racing and chase some points on home soil. A 9th place showed that even with loads of World Cup experience, the National series isn’t a dead cert. Cheers for coming Harry, great to see some fresh faces on the scene!

Another rider to serve his apprenticeship with Team Wideopenmag, Morgan Tyrrell is now stuck into his junior career with Intense UK. Fresh back from injury, Morgs is flat out and hungry. 2nd place for him in the Junior race.

You maybe don’t realise it… but alongside the racers and the usual race go’ers, there’s a whole army of people that live to put on bike races. Sure they ride themselves, but their weekends are all about marshalling, helping dig the tracks, driving the uplifts, manning the start gate.

Here’s one of those dudes – Mr #1 Marshall himself, Charlie Sparkes. Always a pleasure to see you mate!

Would it be a British mountain bike race in the middle of the country without a wet, slippy corner on the final straight?!

Saturday was sunny and Sunday was not. The rain kicked in at chucking out time on Saturday night and we woke up to a totally different track. The final section was a real challenge of balls and bike handling that upset many a good time within sight of the finish!

Youth Winner Luke Williamson is just incredible. He rips it up on track and his old man watches trackside with stop-watches, timing riders through sections to spot the fastest lines.

Despite being a youth, Luke would have beaten every junior at National Champs at Glencoe. Unfortunately, this weekend wasn’t to be and the bad weather hit the youth field hard… pushing him down to a disappointing 22nd place.

Despite the photo above of her decking it, Meg White is having a damn good season in the women’s elite category.

2nd place at National downhill champs and a 3rd place at this event, with only World Cup racers ahead of her.

Veronika Widmann went 3rd fastest in seeding but pulled out the stops and climbed up to 2nd in her final run. You can see from the photo just how savage the track became for women’s finals. It was brutal!

And your women’s elite winner, Katy Curd. Flat out and with a few near-death moments on track, Katy just cracked on and destroyed the field. 9 seconds up in seeding and nearly 20 seconds up in her final run.

Emyr Davies is another rider that has focussed his efforts away from the British series this year, focussed on World Cups and European stuff.

Him and the RideIO team were on track en masse and training runs all weekend though, chasing those points and making the most of the opportunity the race presented. 3rd place in Elite for Ems and a good handful of points to take away.

Shaun Richards isn’t one you’ve probably heard all that much about… but that’s what this race was all about. He struggled in seeding and could only manage 11th place, but pulled out a 2nd place in Elite for his final run. UCI points in bag and his best National result ever. Great job!