The British Downhill series returns to the Welsh hills of Llangollen. A new track awaited. Ride Portugal's Brian Mundy has spent the past months building and perfecting his new trail, I can tell you the hard work has paid off. Throughout the weekend 250 riders came storming down the hill on one of the most exciting and anticipated races of the year. Fast, flowy and technical made it the perfect challenge. Racers crossed the finish line breathless and with big smiles.
Sunday morning practice started off with the sun shining. Riders were up early perfecting their lines before seeding. It wasn't long before the track had dried out, making it faster and loose. Before race runs took place there was a brief pause for the strider race, a moment to give the young guns of the sport an opportunity to race down the grass field.
Starting off race runs was the newly added trail bike category. Unfortunately, by the time it came to junior men heading down the hill thick clouds rolled in and the rain started falling. Loose dirt turned into slick mud. It's Wales, it was going to start rain at some point. Back to mud tyres if you had time to change them.
Course Preview:
[PI=15080023 size=h align=c]Tahnee Seagrave has been having a good year after taking her second world cup of the season. She's been absolutely pinned all weekend so it is no surprise that she took the win by a good 26 seconds. /PI]
Schwalbe Tyres Elite Men:Adam Brayton 2:18.364
Alex Bond 2:20.334
Charlie Hatton 2:20.568
Schwalbe Tyres Elite Women:Tahnee Seagrave 2:25.939
Veronique Sandler 2:51.092
Becci Skelton 2:51.849
Fabric Expert men:Will Hart: 2:26.650
Luke Cockburn 2:27.271
Thomas Cartigny 2:28.532
Dex Shell Open Women: Mikayala Parton 2:55.463
Abbie Sloan 2:58.275
Lindsay Hanley 3:10.673
Spank Junior Men: Matthew Walker 2:13.334
Joe Breeden 2:13.431
Kade Edwards 2:13.537
Rachel Atherton Junior Women: Maya Atkinson 2:49.478
Rosy Monaghan 2:56.177
Ellen Flewitt 2:56.763
Funn MTB Youth Men: Luke Williamson 2:18.720
Jamie Edmondson 2:19.431
James Elliott 2:24.579
Dainese Master Men:Craig Taylor 2:25.927
Richard Batey 2:26.146
Jason Shill 2:27.205
Shimano Senior Men: Calum Mcbain 2:31.556
Billy Matthews 2:32.748
Scott Richardson 2:34.533
The last round of the BDS will be at
Hopton. It will also be the last ever BDS!