British Cycling today announced the dates and venues for the 2022 national mountain bike championships and series, with national champions' jerseys to be awarded for cross-country in Glentress, downhill in Glencoe and marathon in Kielder Forest. The National 4X series and national championships are still yet to be announced.
DownhillAlso confirmed today are the dates and venues for the National Downhill Series. The series is to be delivered by five separate organisers, beginning in Rheola in April. Round two will be a UCI C1 in Fort William, followed by a UCI C2 event in Llangollen for round three.
The series ends with rounds in Caersws and at Revolution Bike Park, which hosted the national championships in 2019.
The 2022 national championships will make a welcome return to Glencoe, which last hosted the showpiece event in 2018, and means that both the downhill and cross-country national championships will be held in Scotland across the same weekend from 23-24 July.
A close-fought 2021 downhill series ended in victories for Roger Novack Vieira and Stacey Fisher, while Matt Walker and Katherine Sharp were victorious in the national championships at Rhyd-y-Felin in July.
National Downhill SeriesRound 1: Rheola, 16 – 17 April (event organiser – Malc Dunn, Gravity Events)
Round 2: Fort William, 7 – 8 May (UCI C1) (event organiser – Colin Houston, SDA)
Round 3: Llangollen, 28 – 29 May (UCI C2) (event organiser – Si Paton, BDS Events / Malverns Classic Team)
Round 4: Caersws, 13 – 14 August (event organiser – Malc Dunn, Gravity Events)
Round 5: Revolution Bike Park, 17 – 18 September (Mike Marsden, Borderline Events)
National Downhill ChampionshipsGlencoe, Scotland, 23 – 24 July
Event organiser: Scottish Downhill Association (SDA)
Cross-countryKicking off in April at popular Nottinghamshire venue, Sherwood Pines, the cross-country series will then head north to Newcastleton and Drumlanrig Castle for rounds two and three, and Cannock Chase makes a welcome return to the schedule for round four.
The series concludes at Woody’s Bike Park in Fowey, which successfully hosted its debut national series event in 2021, and we are pleased to announce that next year’s event has been awarded UCI C1 classification.
A favourite of the Scottish MTB scene, Glentress will host the 2022 national championships, having last hosted a round of the national series in 2019.
In the 2022 series Jane Barr and Ben Wadey will be defending their titles, while Isla Short and Frazer Clacherty will be hoping to hold on to the national champions’ jerseys they collected this summer at Plymouth’s Newnham Park.
National Cross-country Series Round 1: 2 - 3 April, Sherwood Pines
Round 2: 16 – 17 April, Newcastleton
Round 3: 7 – 8 May, Drumlanrig Castle
Round 4: 28 – 29 May, Cannock Chase
Round 5: 25 – 26 June, Woody’s Bike Park (UCI C1)
National Cross-country ChampionshipsGlentress, Scotland: 23 – 24 July
MarathonIn a landmark moment for the discipline, 2022 will see the first-ever national series for mountain bike marathon. The series will feature one round per month from July through to September, beginning in Pippingford, while the third round in Kielder Forest will double up as the National Marathon Championships. Jacob Scott and Isla Short will return as defending champions.
Full calendars
National Marathon SeriesRound 1: 2 – 3 July, Pippingford
Round 2: 31 July, Isle of Man
Round 3: 7 August, Kielder Forest
National Marathon ChampionshipsKielder Forest, 7 August
Surely they can make the races more compact. I would love a 20km loop with seven stages, something like that. 40km is a like a weekly summer evening ride, with as much talking as gassing it.
Good to see that the Fort William and Llangollen are UCI Cat races too. Not been any of those in the UK for years.
Fingers crossed this attracts a good turnout of Pro riders back to UK racing again.
It's a shame Hamsterly didn't really work out last year and Inners was super wet with the worst uplift of all time, so there are not many options.
I remember talking about Golspie and Laggan (I started a crazy gnarly Dh track there which would have been epic) when Si was doing the National Series. Si was great for wanting to embrace new venues and diversify the sport.
Going to Wales is cool for me as it's like riding somewhere new with a dirt type that we just don't have up here, pretty much a new sport. Getting up to speed just doesn't happen in a days practice.
I hear it at Fort William when there is a nationals there from the southern boys too haha.
Enduro though... So many folk treat it like a Dh and head to practice for weeks before the next race. They should just ride Dh and be happy.