Pippingford played host to the first-ever British Marathon Cross-country series round, and what a race it was. With over 200 riders racing across the different categories of all abilities, it was a true demonstration of mountain biking being for everyone. Alongside the experienced Elite riders, many new racers took their first steps into mountain biking racing, including Simon Waller, at 60 years old, doing his first race and picking the 36km lung buster to do it.
The forecasted rain held off for the most part, and the warm conditions were in stark contrast to the extremely wet race held last year in the same location. The 18km lap included a bridge, tunnel, and a unique figure of eight pattern, with plenty of climbs mixed in with some fast-flowing fun singletrack for the riders to enjoy. There wasn't a moment to switch off, however, with Ben Thomas commenting, "It's full-on the whole time. It's super loamy and rocky and rooty at the same time, so you have to work for each pedal stroke."
170 men took to the line to race for the 4-lap Monster Marathon, which played out over 72 km. Ben Thomas took the win despite the best efforts of Joe Griffiths. The pair battled their way around the course, followed by Tom Stevenson in third.
22 women started the 72 km Monster Marathon, but it was the Saint Piran WRT rider Christina Wiejak, building on her form from the National XC series, who took the win in her first-ever Marathon XC race. It was a fantastic achievement and definitely a rider to watch for the rest of the series. Coming in second place behind Christina was Eilish Gilbert, and Elise Sherwell in third.
Besides the two Monster Marathons, many other riders raced in classes ranging from 18km to 54km, with both male and female categories in each distance. Alongside the individual racing, there was a relay pairs race with the riders racing across 72 km, with each rider in the pair able to ride two laps each.
It was amazing to see so many riders choosing Pippingford as their first-ever mountain bike race, with many riders crossing over from both road racing and cyclo-cross keen to take on this cross-country course. Credit has to go to the organisers, Eventrex, who produced a fantastic event worthy of the first-ever national marathon cross-country series round, with plenty of riders looking forward to coming back for Round Two and the National Championships at Kielder Forest on the 13th of August 2022.