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Round 5 of the Lloyds National Downhill Series was the finale of this year’s series and headed north for the granite-laden delights of Nevis Range.
Words & Photos by Jez Prout & Dave Price
And so we reach the climax of the 2026 British Cycling National Downhill Series and what better venue than Fort William and the iconic World Cup track on Aonach Mòr for Round 5, the last of the season. 265 riders took on the course, with the racing producing several close battles, dramatic turnarounds between seeding and race runs, and some seriously tight margins in the junior categories.
Easily the longest track on the calendar, the Nevis Range Proline is a legendary 2.82 km double-black trail descending 555m, at first winding its way across the exposed mountain slopes, through steep rock gardens and across boardwalk, then tight corners dropping into the technical forest steeps and finally the motorway jump section and massive speed into the finish.
The Nevis Range car park was crammed with motorhomes and campervans, a race village buzzing with expectation on Saturday morning. Early on, however, it became apparent that no amount of will was going to beat the weather; heavy rain and gusts of over 60mph high up at the start-hut meant the gondola operation was halted and all medic and marshal teams held at base. The tannoy messages rang out across the car park announcing first a 10am review, then an 11am review, a midday review and, rather hopefully, a 1pm review.
Finally, at 1pm, the news was positive; practice could commence and would do so at 2pm once the cable cars had been loaded and the medical teams were in place. Even with the green light, the riders still faced challenging conditions with strong gusting wind forcing the narrow boardwalk section to be practiced under a yellow flag caution.
Credit must go to the Scottish Downhill Association and Nevis Range for their patience and collaboration in coping with the delays, the new plan was for an early start on Sunday and a revised race schedule to include both seeding and race runs, hopefully bringing the weekend back on track.
Conditions on Sunday morning were much brighter with sunshine, a breeze and broken cloud revealing the majesty of the Highlands as practice got underway at 08:00. Midge-nets were now the order of the day, the favourable weather bringing clouds of the biting insects to pester the marshals and hamper the riders yet further.
Another casualty of the conditions was the daunting road gap two thirds of the way down the track, opened briefly on Saturday the feature was later blocked off for safety reasons and the decision to leave it so for Sunday soon followed. The numerous rock gardens, flat-out berms, step-offs, the river gap and the iconic wall ride would still keep the thrills coming thick and fast throughout the run, the huge whips on the motorway and the final flat-out chute into the “Amphitheater of Noise” giving the crowds of spectators something to cheer.
The Elite Men’s race belonged to Sam Conroy, producing a 4:40.795 final run to take the win for Wheelbase Weldtite DH. His performance was particularly impressive because his qualifying/seed run had already put him in contention at 4:47.107, but he found nearly seven seconds on his decisive run.
Conroy was quickest through the opening sector, recording 2:27.868, before adding a 1:06.125 middle split and 1:06.802 final sector. His combined 4:40.795 was enough to put 2.917 seconds into Taylor Vernon, who finished second in 4:43.712
Vernon had actually been marginally quicker than Conroy in the first split in seeding, but couldn’t reproduce that advantage in his race run. A 4:43.712 was nevertheless a strong ride and comfortably clear of third-placed Drew Carters, who finished in 4:51.138.
Carters’ final was another notable performance. Sitting sixth after the first run at 4:58.801, he cut more than seven seconds from that time to move onto the podium. Josh Lancett-Edwards followed him in fourth at 4:51.860, while Josh Turner completed the top five in 4:53.368.
Although Adam Brayton was in the mix in seeding with a run of 4:50.025, including the fastest third sector, but suffered a mechanical in his race run and would come home in a distant 11th place.
The Elite Women’s field was smaller, with just three classified riders, but Emily Carrick-Anderson delivered an emphatic victory for WHEELBASE CabTech Castelli. Her winning 5:27.820 was fastest in all three final sectors: 2:56.426, 1:18.879 and 1:12.515. She had also been fastest through every sector in the first run, making this one of the most controlled performances of the weekend.
Abbie Sloan finished second in 6:09.175, 41.355 seconds behind Carrick-Anderson, while Bethany McCully took third in 6:47.609.
The Expert category produced another convincing win, with Alexander Pervan taking first place in 4:50.375, more than 21 seconds clear of Josh Adams, who took second in 5:12.253.
The battle behind was much closer; William Welford was just 0.149 seconds behind Adams in third, finishing in 5:12.402 while Jackson Smith and Tom Nisbet completed the top five, separated by less than a tenth of a second.
One of the standout rides of the entire meeting came from Reid Simpson in the Male 15–16 category. Simpson won in 4:41.664, a time that would have placed him extremely competitively among the senior racing. He was fastest in every final sector, including a 2:27.381 opening split and 1:06.963 final sector.
The gap to second-placed Thomas Jenkins was 12.237 seconds, with Jenkins finishing in 4:53.901. Ollie Carne was another 0.917 seconds back in third. The category contained 64 competitors, making Simpson’s winning margin particularly noteworthy.
In Female 17–18, Megan Horne produced another commanding performance, stopping the clock at 5:39.273. Megan was fastest in all three sectors, her 42.128-second advantage over Katy Kaos McGowan underlined just how cleanly the run came together and capped off a stunning season of racing for the SteamPunk Downhill Army rider.
Perhaps the most dramatic turnaround in the female categories came from Annie Dennis. Dennis was only eighth after seeding in the Female 15-16, recording 7:37.371. In her race run, however, she held it together to record 5:43.789 and take an emphatic victory. Rosie McLaughlan of SteamPunk DH Arrmy finished second in 5:57.378, 13.589 seconds back, while Ellie Gunnell completed the podium in 6:27.809.
Finishing off a stellar season in style, Ty Simpson won the Male 13–14 class. Simpson’s 4:48.707 final was 6.199 seconds faster than Samuel Gibson and 6.429 seconds ahead of Ellis Graham.
Steve Peat celebrated a winning return to Fort William taking the Male 50+ in a time of 4:57.513, heading second placed Crawford Carrick-Anderson by over 27 seconds. John Young took third.
Elite Men
1st – Sam Conroy 4:40.795
2nd – Taylor Vernon 4:43.712
3rd – Drew Carters 4:51.138
4th – Josh Lancett-Edwards 4:51.860
5th – Josh Turner 4:53.368
Elite Women
1st – Emily Carrick-Anderson 5:27.820
2nd – Abbie Sloan 6:09.175
3rd – Bethany McCully 6:47.609
Junior Men
1st – Sam Maclean 4:55.430
2nd – Joshua Wood 4:55.693
3rd – George Cotsworth-Smith 4:55.885
4th – Monty Palmer 4:56.644
5th – Thomas Mcintosh 4:58.080
Junior Women
1st – Megan Horne 5:39.273
2nd – Katy McGowan 6:21.401
3rd – Hollie Alderson 6:27.626
4th – Mai Woodman 6:49.215
