2011 Halo BDS | Nant Gwrtheyrn

With hype surrounding the BDS in 2011 at an all time high there were huge expectations going into the first event of the year at the Welsh venue of Nant Gwrtheyrn. Read on for the low down on the weekends’ happenings.All pictures by kind permission of Ian Cross at Halo British Downhill, video from Tim Lake at Southside productions.

Right from the start this venue has enjoyed a positive response from many riders, the mainly steep and technical track winding its way through thick woodland on the west coast of Wales, finishing at the Welsh language centre on the shore of Nant Gwrtheyrn. Having had several low key races to test its ability and multiple uplift days the venue was primed to hold the first BDS event of the season.


With a split paddock leaving competitors spread out, the upper camping field on Saturday morning was cloaked in a thick blanket of mist although it was quick to burn off and give rise to blue skies and a drying track. After a walk of the track sign on was possibly the most luxurious of any UK event so far, sitting as it was in a corner of the cafe. With Mrs B on hand to keep riders in control it was an ideal opportunity to eat your morning fry up at the same time and look forward to a pint or three in the bar there later on in the day. An ideal opportunity too to catch up with all those you don’t normally see outside of the racing season. And to ensure that riders in the top field weren’t left out of the action there was a coach running lifts until 9pm – not many fancied the walk back up the hill if they could avoid it.


Unfortunately mid way through the Saturday and even one of the coaches gave up. Fully laden with riders and crawling up a one in three gradient saw to that as its clutch expired in a cloud of smoke. Still, it didn’t actually have any real impact on the way things ran and riders were able to get more than enough runs, some managing to easily see double figures. This was all the more welcome after the talk of expected delays in the run up to the race. So short was the uplift road that 6 tractors and 2 coaches were all that was required to effectively shift the 320 riders all weekend.


But that’s getting ahead of ourselves; we haven’t even walked the track yet. With many riders being camped at the top the first thing to do was walk the track on the way down to sign on. And with all the talk being of a steep and technical track the walk showed that this wasn’t too far from the truth, for a race track at least. Tight, technical and fairly steep with very little need for pedalling, it perhaps wasn’t as steep as the hillside would initially suggest thanks to a number of switchbacks but it looked good. Tight switchbacks, high lines, low lines and awkward lines; some sneaky, some more obvious. Featuring rocks and roots aplenty there was no shortage of slick mud to coat them and remove the majority of grip that you would otherwise be hoping for. As things dried on Saturday it didn’t really improve as the mud merely became stickier and coated things more thickly. But fear not, overnight rain on the Saturday soon saw to thinner mud and both waterproofs and tear-offs suddenly became not just a welcome commodity but necessary if you wanted to see anything past the first few corners.


There was no escaping the two faced nature of the track, the top being the steep, technical and challenging side, the overly mellow gradient at the bottom its alter-ego. What was great to see here was the split time and speed trap which gave riders something to concentrate on as they sprinted the forty seconds or so to the finish with some jumps, rocks and bus stop to break it up. Some riders suggested that omitting the bus stop would improve the flow but regardless, racing proved that it’s easy to make costly mistakes on the easiest of sections.


Racing at BDS events usually kicks off with a seeding run to dictate the running order for finals but unfortunately this didn’t run quite to plan. So after two major red flags and ambulances called the decision was taken not to re-start seeding and instead go straight into racing, light fast becoming an issue at the event with its pre summer time date. But once finals started it was down to business and it ran without further incident, well, other than the usual mistakes and bad runs aside.


Juveniles always kick events off and it was in this category that Nial Oxley took third place with a 2:59 for Great-rock.co.uk/Nukeproof. MBW Racing’s Luke Cornforth placed second with a 2:49 but it was Eight MTB/Nukeproof supported Ben Kennedy who took the win with a 2:44.


Mojo/PS Cycles rider Callum Havard kicked off to a good start in Youth with third place from a 2:39. Second went to George Gannicott for Bikesoup with a 2:35 but it was Madison Saracen rider Phil Atwill who took the win with a time of 2:32.


In Juniors Dan Sheridan took third place with a 2:29 for the Nukeproof Junior team, just six tenths down on the 2:28 from the Nukeproof Junior team rider Chris McGlinchey. Taking the win was MTBCut.tv’s latest signing, Fraser McGlone, his 2:27 placing him top twenty overall.


In Veterans Alastair MacLennan took third for Nukeproof on 1 2:43 before embarking on the long trip back to Fort William post-podiums. In second was Eryri DH’s Adrian Bradley, proving that winter training pays off. His time was 2:39 and in doing so was clocked in the speed trap at over 25mph which was in the top twenty fastest speeds clocked all day. Taking the win was Dragon Downhill man Jason Carpenter just seven tenths up on a 2:38.


Masters next and Dan Haines took third with a 2:33, just behind Chris Griffiths of the revamped StevePeatSyndicate on a 2:33. Taking the win was ChainReactionCycles team manager Nigel Page, proving that he can still ride a bike as fast an anyone, his time a rapid 2:31, despite protestations that he hasn’t ridden a bike in years.


Many thought that Seniors would see a significant drop in pace after so many top riders were promoted to Expert but that doesn’t seem to have happened, at least not here. Ryan Telling took third with a 3:37 which was just under a second down on the 3:36 of Guy Gibbs. Taking the win for Steve Peat Syndicate was Michael Vickers with a 3:32 onboard a newly built up Carbon V10.


Non-Elite Women was a fairly small category at Nant Gwrtheyrn but it was here that Rosie Smith took third for Swiss and Swallow with a 3:40 with second place going to Lynsey Evans on a 2:26. Taking the win was Wideopenmag.co.uk’s Ellie Maxfield with a 3:22.


Into Experts and this is a category which grew arms and legs over the winter. No demotions at the end of 2010 and a serious bolstering of the numbers with a lot of promotions from other categories saw to that although it didn’t seem to have massively increased the turnout over 2010 numbers. Of the fifty Experts on site the top there were a number of riders all more than capable fighting for their place on the podium. Joel Chidley took third for Leisure Lakes with a 2:29 just two tenths back from second placed BOS/SRE backed James Mcknight. Taking the win was yet another StevePeatSyndicate rider, Nathan Vials, on his new Carbon V10 with a time of 2:23, a time that would have placed him seventh in Elite.


In the Elite Womens class there was a solid field of ten riders. In the end it came down to 2010 National Champion Jess Stone to take third for Gravity Girls/Trek with a time of 2:57 whilst Fionn Griffiths took second for Team GR with a 2:48.5. However, taking a maiden victory for her new Madison Saracen team was Manon Carpenter, Junior World Cup Champion in 2010 and crossing the line just three tenths up on Fionn’s time.


And then the final category of the day – the big guns in Elite. Big news of course was the hugely packed field, many of the riders no strangers to the World Cup scene and a good number no stranger to World Cup podiums. That was the big news. Bigger still was the upset to the established order that happened not long after Team Skene's Al Bond crossed the line to take the hot seat. Rider after rider came down and fell short of his time, until Peaty crossed the split with a two tenth margin. Could he finally push Al off? It looked like he would do it until he hit the second to last jump and got crossed up, being lucky not to go down. But it was gone and he slotted into place in second while the crowd waited with baited breath for Marc Beaumont to break the split. Fastest at the split and fastest speed trap reading too, it was looking good. And then the GT rider came into view, storming the final yards to the finish, breaking the beam to take the win and fastest time of the day, netting a solid cash prize and a TAG watch in the process. So the Elites podium became Marc, Al and then Steve for the top three.



The changeable weather did its best to dampen spirits, quite literally if you were camping, but the atmosphere was superb, the finish area helping to keep riders around to watch their competitors come down. The split venue was never going to be ideal but it was made to work as well as possible and the coach running shuttles on the Saturday night was a very welcome gesture, as was the pre-arrangement of the tractor drivers to be on hand to pull people out the fields at the end of the day. Perhaps some riders could be as prepared by having their towing eyes ready. 2011 looks like it’ll be a very different season to those in the past with some new venues on the calendar and the emphasis on technical challenge, discounting of course the fast and open venue of Moelfre, the next race on the calendar. See you there on the 10th April. If you fancy heading along to watch then it's free for all spectators. What's stopping you?


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