XCC Race Report: British XC Round 2 Margam Park

Round 2 of the National XC Series returned to Margam Park this weekend, and in an unusually hot and sunny Saturday the Short Track started the weekend's racing. As always the Short Track took place over a flatter, slightly less technical track, which allowed the riders to really put the hammer down and go for broke to try and take a victory.

Once again, it was a dominant day for Hope Factory Racing, taking 4 podium positions in 3 races, with a stand-out ride of the day coming from Hope Factory Racing's Dec Oldham. It's amazing to see a junior rider claiming second place in the Senior Race, and his first National junior podium this year.

Round 2 of the National XC came to Margam Park this weekend, with a great turnout for short track races

The Youth and Juvenile field is a challenging one to grow up in with riders of all different sizes taking to the line to race each other

The charge for the first corner is always a tight one

It was a tight battle between Alarik Knox, Jacob Mauger and Luca Hill, with the leader taking several laps to be decided

But by Lap 4 Luca Hill started to grow his lead

It's always a tough choice, do you get on the gas or speed tuck?

Luca Hill took a storming win in the Youth/Juvenile field, a solid 26 seconds ahead of second place

Alarik Knox rounded off the Men's Youth/Juvenile field in third, just behind Jacob Mauger in second

It was close racing in the Female Youth and Juvenile, with riders wheel to wheel for most of the race

Heidi Roscoe had a tremendous 8 lap race, taking the win in the Female Youth/Juvenile field

There were several sprint finishes on the intense short track course

Short Track racing is brutal in this heat, but the sprint was worth it with Freya Mowbray just pipping Orla White to second place

Just checking your wheel is still there

There's always plenty of time for gossip on the start line

Thomas Colley gave Paul Oldham a run for his money in the first lap of the Men's Vets race, however Paul quickly established a strong lead

Riders started to hunt for any bit of shade they could, just to keep cool on the track

The grassy corners made the perfect place for a well-timed overtake

Audience participation is always good to see

Pre-race chilling in the shade was essential

A nice second place for Natalie Smith in the Female Vets

There's no stopping Paul Oldham, with back to back victories in the 2024 Short Track season so far

It was smiles on the finishing line for Thomas Colley, taking second place in the Men's Vets

Trying her hardest not to look at the camera

Early on a pack formed, with Hope riders dominant at the front, with each rider waiting for their competitor to make a move

Across the flat fireroads sometimes it was best to just tuck in behind the rider infront, and take the aero-advantage

The trail narrowed into tight single track, twisting it's way over the bridge

Grace Inglis showed her talent, keeping up with the main pack and finishing nearly a minute infront of second place in the Female Senior race

As the pack began to separate on the fire-road straights, they were soon on each others wheels after the grassy climb

Ruby James powered hard to take second place in the Female Senior Class

The flat fire-road led to some interesting competitive moments, with the riders trying to take advantage of the smooth surface to really put some power down

Meaning riders had to make sure they had already got their moves done.

But it was ultimately Thomas Mein who, on lap 5, put distance between himself and the rest of the field, taking the win in the Male Senior field

The commissaries keeping track of laps

There were several punctures calling an early end to many people's races

The obligatory post-race debrief took place in the cool of the shade

Dec Oldham gave it everything to make it onto that podium, sprinting away from the pack in the final corners, taking an amazing second place in the Male Senior, despite only being a Junior

Even for Thomas Mein, the weather made it a bit too much

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Mandownmedia
Member since Nov 28, 2019
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4 Comments

l0key (May 14, 2024 at 1:31)

good to see some coverage of the brit series, hopefully the success we are having at elite will get some people to give these a go and to get into it

singletrackbikes12 (May 14, 2024 at 5:43)

but these track in margam needs a lot of trail work to be done to them and the track that we had last year was much fun then then now its got so bad now its time do some trail work dome to them.

mtbhd (May 14, 2024 at 4:16)

Thanks for the coverage, keep it up!

Starch-Anton (May 15, 2024 at 5:57)

Who thought it was a good idea to have an XC round the same weekend as the European Champs? Seems bizarre.....