Starting Strong | British National Downhill Series, Rhyd y Felin.

The 2026 British Cycling National Downhill Series is a go. Visiting 5 iconic venues across North Wales and Scotland, with the ever popular Rhyd Y Felin out of the blocks first.

Borderline Events would host the opening round of this year’s British National Downhill Series. Since National Champs in 2008, Rhyd Y Felin has been a staple of the UK downhill scene and for good reason. The top dogs turned out to see who had done their homework in the darker months.

Words & Photos by Jez Prout & Dave Price.

Rnd 1 of the British Cycling National Downhill Series kicked the season off in style with over 300 riders on the steeps of Llangynog.

At 1.59km long and 282m of elevation the track twists its way through a variety of terrain; a jump section at the top leads into a tight, dark and very slippery forest section, then across road gaps into a narrow new-growth plantation hiding numerous drops and sniper roots, then a section of open, well lit and fast-paced pine forest, full of spectators and noise, before re-emerging to fantastic valley views and a frantic sprint for the line in the wide open final sector.

Rhyd-Y-Felin is a growing favourite amongst riders, with such varying terrain throughout the run it has something to challenge all. Steep tech, even flow, killer roots, flat out speed and steeze, this track has it all.

A packed camping field on a Friday afternoon is always a good sign however, leading into the weekend, the weather had been poor, plenty of Welsh liquid sunshine, so the track inspection on Friday night was a treacherously slippery ordeal that didn’t bode quite so well for the weekend’s racing.

Thankfully Saturday morning dawned and the clouds had gone, blue skies, sunshine and a stiff breeze were a welcome start to the day. By 08:15 the queue of riders at the top, courtesy of the flawless Pearce Cycles up-lift service, was an even stronger sign that everybody was keen to get at it.

Although the track was still slick and greasy and, in some places, extremely muddy, stitching together as many clean, top-to-bottom runs was going to be paramount.

The track continued to dry, evolve and speed-up throughout the 5 hour practice, a near constant train of racers carving lines back into the hillside.

From 3pm the packed late-afternoon seeding runs ran smoothly, a great format for bringing some proper racing to a Saturday…. And even for coaxing a bright coloured race suit out from under the ubiquitous black waterproofs.

Not the ideal start to the series for Luke Williamson who went down hard in seeding resulting in a hospital visit with a concussion. Heal up fast Luke.

The elite field was stacked with world cup riders getting some pre race prep ahead of the first round in South Korea, the main man himself bags P1 in Masters.

It wasn’t just the elites taking the limelight though, there were standout performances across all the categories, not least of which was Sienna Paul taking the Female 15-16 year old category by a stunning 9.5 seconds.

Credit to Mike Marsden and the Borderline Events crew for putting on one hell of an opening round. Full steam ahead to round 2 at Antur Stiniog in May.