Race Report: Danny Hart & Monica Mixova Win 2019 English Champs at Hamsterley Forest by JWDTphotography

Last weekend saw two race series hitting Hamsterley Forest. So I headed over to Danny Hart's Descend Bike Park for Saturday practice, where the Gravity Events were hosting their first race of the season and their English Champs. Within Hamsterley Forest there is a large network of cycling trails, blue, red and black graded for everyday riders. But tucked away on one side of the valley is the Bike Park that is now run by the Harts. Sue and Paul and their team provide an amazing bike park and uplift service throughout the year. Literally month on month, recently, the trails within Danny Hart's Descend Bike Park are being expanded and improved thanks to the likes of Joe Cox and the teams trail builders. There are a plethora of routes down the hill, and during your average uplift day, you could get from top to bottom a different way all day long.

The course itself was by no means the longest in the Gravity Event Series, but this weekends course was well thought out and crisscrossed many of the main and popular trails within the bike park. The course itself throughout Saturday was running extremely fast and was bone dry. The weather leading up to the weekend had been pretty awesome.

Danny Hart took the win, and seen here during practice looking very loose in the air

Monica showing us how skills pays the bills

The one and only Joe Cox, seen relaxing here, but he's always there tirelessly looking after the riders

Final drop and into the finish line

#JustPullUp

There's always some great shenanigans at Descend Bike Park

Mark Neil, fastest Vet on the day and within the top 10 fastest riders.

One the day of the race Danny Hart took the win in 1:21.084, the second fastest of the day went to Christopher Philogene in 1:22.842 and third fastest was Luke Mumford in 1:25.748. Even though Danny would be expected to win here, Christopher certainly gave Danny a good run for his money, even the slightest error or mechanical from Danny could have seen him beaten on the day.

The fastest overall woman on the day was Monica Mixova in 1:44.241, second fastest woman was Sophia Paull in 1:44.428 and third fastest went to Katie Purvis in 1:47.624. With 0.187s separating Monica and Sophia, that was one hell of a fight on the hill. For a full run down of the results head over to Roots and Rain

For more information about the Gravity Events races head over to their FaceBook Pages. If you've read this and fancy a superb days out riding or an uplift day at Danny Hart's Descend Bike Park, head over to their official FaceBook Page for more information, or head over to their official website to book. They also have downhill bikes to rent out for the day and Sue and Paul will look after you all day.

Here's some more images from the practice day on Saturday.

Danny heading back to the uplift

Only a short course to the finish line, but many features were present on the way down

The lower half of the course became steep, technical and tasty

After a short level sprint, Allan skids into the next steep section

Finn Cooper took on a big crash during practice, but managed to man up and keep riding Kudos young one!

Lean it boy!

Style for miles

English Champ, Danny Hart

Dee Cox, one of the ultimate regulars seen at Descend

Words and Photography by @JWDTphotography

Author Info:

JWDTphotography

Member since Mar 20, 2017
55 articles

15 Comments

number-6 (Apr 5, 2019 at 13:18)

Joe Cox...unsung hero/legend of Hamsterley......

JWDTphotography (Apr 5, 2019 at 14:34)

Hell yes you said it right here!!

thenotoriousmic (Apr 5, 2019 at 4:01)

Danny Hart won a DH race at hamsterly? I don’t bribe it. You need more proof.

JWDTphotography (Apr 5, 2019 at 7:32)

In fairness, there's some very quick lads who regularly ride here. He was certainly chased down the hill by Chris Philogene.

thenotoriousmic (Apr 5, 2019 at 8:16)

@JWDTphotography: Yeah I know I used to do uplifts there but still my money’s a the multiworld champion who also owns the park for future events. Haha

JWDTphotography (Apr 5, 2019 at 9:28)

To be fair he’s on another level....

pagie-dh (Apr 5, 2019 at 8:09)

Woohoo thanks for the pic! ????

JWDTphotography (Apr 5, 2019 at 9:26)

Ha. Which one would that be. ;-)

mmixik (Jul 2, 2019 at 13:57)

Thanks Jerry! ❤ I know I'm a bit late but...????????????

korev FL (Apr 5, 2019 at 7:17)

Good report Jerry

Cheers, appreciate the feedback. Was torn between covering this race and the Northern Downhill across the road, so I did a little bit of each. J

matzx (Apr 5, 2019 at 12:06)

still missing photo from ceremony...

mmixik (Jul 2, 2019 at 13:58)

Mam nejaky na Instagramu ????????????Monika

DannyOC (Apr 6, 2019 at 1:44)

No mention of the piss poor timing issues?

JWDTphotography (Apr 6, 2019 at 5:01)

Hi Danny, I can appreciate your frustrations on the day, but I only covered the practice day. I was aware they had issues but I’m never going to speak negatively publically about an organiser, who did have to deal with some very challenging issues.