British National Championship

The National Champs are always a big deal so having them at Innerleithen this year was an extra incentive for the team to do well.

British National Champs: Innerleithen

Neil was on the pace all weekend.

After walking the dry and dusty track on Friday, everybody was primed and ready but practice on Saturday was a different affair with heavy mist leading to rain so lines had to be recalculated to find the best way over the slippery roots and rocks. The team’s Nukeproof ezi-up was a bit swamped by the factory teams race trucks and pits set up in the car park but everyone was having fun and getting practice runs in.

Al giving it beans.

Its always a good track at Innerleithen with the Champs track being no exception – a steep technical start that then led into some faster tight sections through the trees and then into some flat out big jumps and a final pedal into the arena and finish line. On race day the weather was back to its sunny best so it was a case of getting in a couple of practice runs in the morning then getting ready for seeding and finals runs in the afternoon. Seeding went incident free so it was then back up the hill for one last run for finals and one shot of glory…

Keir rode strong all weekend.

Al jr was first off, looking his usual smooth self through the tricky roots section at the start and had a good run of 3.50 . Ewan set off soon after, again looking great through the first part of the track but unfortunately crashing further down to end his chances of a good result. It was then the turn of the Veteran categories – Al sr had a steady run but did more than enough to take the Grand Veterans title by a huge 35 seconds. Neil had been suffering from a bout of food poisoning before the weekend but managed to hold it together enough to get in a good run and took the win by 11 seconds and the Veteran 45-49 title. 

Alastair 

It was then Keir’s turn and after a good seeding time he repeated that with another good time in the finals and achieved a great 20th in a very heavily stacked Junior field. Podiums, gold medals, champagne and ice creams then rounded off what had been a successful and enjoyable weekend.

Ewan 

Thanks to Marked Mediahouse for the images.