2016 British Downhill Series Entries Now Open

Dec 30, 2015 at 14:28
by Si Paton  
British Cycling's National Downhill Mountain Bike Series is delivered to you by the tried and trusted BDS Team. The series comprises of six downhill events held around the UK at the following venues; Ae Forest, Fort William, Rhyd-Y-Felin, Moelfre, Revolution Bike Park and the series final at Llangollen. We welcome Revolution Bike Park as a new venue to the series having established itself as one of the UK's premier downhill venues.

A number of new features for 2016 include live timing from Action Sports Timing, this will be a world first for a national downhill race series to offer live timing for not only the race but for also for all of practice. That means that every practice run you take on Saturday or Sunday morning will be recorded with the data available to the riders at the touch of a finger via their smartphone. Additionally each rider will automatically have their seeding and race results text directly to their mobile phone once their category has finished racing. The largest number of Elite riders ever gathered for a national series in 2015 with 112 Elite riders competing. For the women, Madison Saracen Factory Team rider, Manon Carpenter took the series win convincingly with a 260 points lead in front of Rose Bikes and former UCi 4x World Champion, Katy Curd on 930 points. FMD Racing's, Tahnee Seagrave finished third in the series with 715 points.

Podium Time

For the men CRC/Paypal's, Joe Smith had two race wins which put him on top with 920 points ahead of Madison Saracen Factory Team rider, Matt Simmonds on 838 points. CRC/Paypal rider, Mike Jones showed great consistency over the series, scoring him 807 points and a well deserved third place for the young Welshman.

2016 entries are now live

Riders who have obtained 150 British Cycling points or more can now enter by clicking HERE.

For those with 50-149 British Cycling points, entries open on the 2nd of February at 18:00.

International Riders:

The BDS welcomes international riders of all ages wishing to compete. You do not need any British Cycling points to enter or be a British Cycling member. Just enter via the link above (you do not need to enter any licence number or licence details). Please note you will have to bring your valid race licence from your national federation to race registration. Riders from Northern Ireland with a Northern Ireland Cycling Federation (NICF) race licence and membership do not need any British Cycling points to enter. Just enter via the link above. Please note you will have to bring your valid race licence and membership from the NICF to race registration.

2016 BDS Dates and venues:

Round 1 - 2nd/3rd April - Ae Forest in Dumfries in Scotland.

Round 2 - 14th/15th May - Nevis Range, Fort William in Scotland.

Round 3 - 28th/29th May - Rhyd-Y-Felin (Often called Bala), next door to Revolution Bike Park in Wales.

Round 4- 25th/26th June - Moelfre in Wales (Near Oswestry) in Wales.

Round 5 - 27th/28th August - Revolution Bike Park in Wales.

Round 6 - 17th/18th September - Llangollen in Wales.

Style

Schedule:

Friday

09:00 - Venue open for team pits, parking and camping.

18:00 - Course open for on foot inspection only.

18:00 - 20:00 - Race registration.

Saturday

07:00 - Course open for on foot inspection only.

08:00-11:00 - Race registration.

09:30 - Open practice for all riders.

18:00 - Course closed.

18:05 - Riders meeting.

18:30 - Course open for on foot inspection only.

Sunday

08:30 - Open practice for all.

11:00 - Timed seeding run followed by one timed race run.

17:30 - Podium for top five in each category.

How do I gain points to race the BDS?

There are three simple steps to racing British Cycling’s National Downhill MTB Series. You must first purchase membership directly from British Cycling in either Silver or Gold, this allows you to purchase a ‘Full Race Licence’. Purchase your membership here.

The second step is to purchase a ‘Full Race’ licence directly from British Cycling. You can renew this either by phone by calling 0161 274 2010 or on line here. Please note the membership and race licence comes as one double sided card that has the licence on one side and your membership on the other. Ensure this is signed and a recent passport style photograph is attached prior to attending the BDS events you have entered. The third step is to accumulate points from regional downhill races, once you have both your licence and membership in place. You will require 150 British Cycling points or more, gained in the discipline of downhill to allow you to enter the BDS. If the race is not full we will allow riders with 50 British Cycling points or more to enter from Monday, the 1st of February at 18:00 on a first come, first served basis.

British Cycling Ranking Points are explained HERE.

British Cycling’s National Rankings list is listed HERE.

Want to accumulate British Cycling points at a regional race? Regional races are listed HERE.

For further information on the series:

BDS Website.
BDS Facebook.

Champagne Time

MENTIONS: @BritishDownhillseries / @si-paton


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Member since Jul 26, 2006
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47 Comments
  • 65 16
 Bullsh*t race series. £95 for massive uplift queues, bad uplifts, rude event staff....waste of time and money
  • 13 3
 what do you expect from BC lol
  • 28 13
 £95 may sound a lot , but the time and effort that is put in to run the B.D.S. does not come cheap and easy, also with a lot of the safety aspects for riders, Teams and spectators being put in place by the sports governing bodies and HSE , it takes a lot longer to set up. It would be great if The BDS team could just turn up on the Friday morning throw some basic taping up, a few basic loos , let people park and camp where ever they want (organized chaos )and then go home Sunday evening. Then you may get an £80 weekend, but there is a crew sometimes working for 4-5 days before the event and still there gone midnight on the Sunday, clearing rubbish left by spectators and Teams,as to make sure that the venue owners will allow them to return (more time more money) . Uplifts can be an issue when you have 300 plus riders at a meeting, most of you have the answer, but again it costs. As for rude staff I can not talk for everyone . The most of the Staff on the BDS do their job for the love of the sport, they want to see it progress in safe ,controlled, challenging and fun environment , they may get as frustrated as you at times, but some times they have to be blunt and straight to the point regarding rules and regulations, if they have doubts and issues , then that is where the BC Commissar comes in to help out. I think we are to quick to slate events and organisers at any level , we all should encourage and help out where we can , whether it be trail, track building, marshalling, anything that helps put on a good event and at any level of the sport , small local race's up to the top flight. Anyway ride more stay safe and have fun
  • 31 2
 Pearce cycles manage to do it just fine. I think you'll find that most people that have raced a BDS have had something bad to say about it. If they focuses their time and money on the logistics of the practice and racing, all would be fine. But instead they are caught up on making the series look nice, they neglect the important thing like the uplift....take AE Forest in 2015, uplift was awful. I don't think there is one person that won't agree with that.
  • 25 10
 Danny, yes the uplift at Ae is the worst of the series, all agreed. We are the only organiser that uses foam to protect your bikes. This takes up massive time come loading and unloading and re-collecting the foam. Regards the rest of the uplifts, they were all spot on. Any complaints regards members of the BDS team, hit me up at the events or shortly after is the best way for me to resolve any issues.
  • 8 3
 I can absolutely imagine the cost of those races being 95. It looks the big show from here on my computer, and goes over several days. As a race organiser myself I get lots of whingeing just like this. At the end of the day it costs money to run any kind of event.

I encourage you to organise an event and charge whatever you like!

Fwiw its worth I run a club and state series. Club races are half the cost, and have less bells and whistles. Oh and it also has about 60% of the attendance. So people like to pay for a good product.

On that point, with it being so popular im sure most people have a good experience.

I hope you can focus on the positives too.

Good luck racing in 2016
  • 14 18
flag RedBurn (Jan 2, 2016 at 9:20) (Below Threshold)
 95£ ??! holy shit, that's pretty much called theft .. forget if you're not sponsored ? cmmon it just doesn't worth that!
  • 9 7
 Borderline manage it for £60 :p
  • 5 4
 you guy's just look at money and cry about the up lift,but there is a price to pay,to get that feeling you and the time,you can't feel that going down your back yard trail where you walk your dh bike up lift,[between the tape]that time is hard to make.,so just go race if you can cause some are not lucky to have a race time fun.,we in the U.S.A. said the same about NORBA,but it was real fun with friends i made at the race's,then it was gone,now there is race's but not like it was it be gone,just ask PEATY about it[NORBA race's],with out HUMAN'S putting race on,you would be on not so good bike's,like HUFFY'S.,DONNY JACKSON at FANTUCKEY kept it alive in SO. California.,so remember when your back yard trail is gone and no one to help you make a new trail and no land to make one on,that little doo nation for race go's far and wide.
  • 11 4
 @si-paton
Thank you for taking the time to protect our bikes. My bike is worth way more than the £95 entry fee. I treat my bike better than I treat the crappy Nissan Micra I drive to the races in, and my biggest worry about the whole weekend is sticking my bike on a trailer next to 20 other bikes owned by idiots who don't have to do all their own maintenance. The foam is appreciated, don't you worry.
  • 12 3
 shouldnt need foam if the trailer is contructed correctly. Never had any issue with uplift scotland
  • 9 3
 The foam doesn't just protect your bike from the trailer poah, but also against the other racers who likely could not give a flying f*** about you bike.
I know i wouldn't if I were racing because i'd be completely focused on my ride and everything else would be irrelevant.

There is a massive picture that most people here do not seem to be eve vaguely aware of... and likely will never be, unless they actually get involved and start giving back to the sport rather than just taking. In the UK especially there are so many small costs involved , not least because nowadays every idiot that trips over his own fat feet want to blame and sue someone else.

Basically if you see an issue don't be a whinge and cry about it on these forums, but get off your backside and start giving some positive.

Massive respect to the everyone involved in making the BDS happen. Have no doubt they already know its not perfect, but you can bet 100% they are working their asses off to try and make it so.
  • 4 4
 I never said protect against the trailer. if the hard points are properly spaced then the bikes won't touch
  • 4 1
 Never raced a BDS, but from what I heard it's just a lot smaller, more crowded, way more expensive and more chaotic than the IXS Cup races?
Some of the Tracks look great though from Video. I was thinking about making the journey to Britain to try out a few events, but I think I'll first try all the EDC and SDC races.
  • 2 18
flag jenksy FL (Jan 3, 2016 at 4:53) (Below Threshold)
 Pedal to the top you lazy a#seholes if you're stood around waiting for the uplift. These are bicycles remember!
  • 15 1
 Erm yes. Downhill bicycles. Have you ever ridden one?
  • 3 1
 more like push up
  • 6 0
 Cant be that bad look at the athletes the U.K have been churning out over the last few decades. Its the most competitive national series by a long way the field is stacked with unreal talent, Would love to have a go at some of the races.
  • 15 1
 Still no UCI points? That's a shame for so many enthusiastic riders.
  • 11 4
 Given that a day pass for a weekend at an uplift centre is about £35 surely £90 for a race weekend is pretty good value?

OK so you might get fewer runs in, but you don't have the atmosphere or chance of a trophy when you're just smashing runs at BPW do you?

I vaguely recall paying about £40+ for a day of racing a Midlands super series race in about 2002, which got me 2 race runs and about 2 practise runs, in a cattle truck uplift with all standing room only. Quit complaining,
  • 7 2
 2 days uplift at gawton/417 project/bpw = £66-68
or weekend racing pearce event = £70 (excellent events)
or weekend racing in a series seen by most the mtb world and sponsors if you do well you have a good chance of going on the world stage =£90
with all that goes will it I don't think its that bad
  • 6 1
 I would like to do a few but why have BC license? Its £110 a race if you include the license cost, you may as well sponsor a road race. Having said that £90 is fair it involves a hell of a lot of work and you would not want to go back to the days of Dave Morgan. Keep up the good work Si forget the haters.
  • 5 3
 It's part of British Cycling's National Series, hence a licence and membership to BC is required or that of your governing body if you are an international athlete competing at the BDS.
  • 2 0
 I will stick with Pearce then but as I say I would do a few if I did not need to buy a licence, no way round that?
  • 3 2
 BMXrad, apologies not, everyone else needs a licence and membership and this is checked before each event online as well as in person, physically at race registration by the BC Commissaires and our crack team.
  • 3 0
 Ok worth a try, keep up the good work all the best, AC
  • 1 0
 I think, although I aint racing anymore, having a regional level feeder races into a national series is the right way to do things. Otherwise how do you separate from beginner riders and those more adept? Also it gives people something to aim for. I remember when the points rule first came in, I was more inspired to try and get the (then 15) that were required.

As much as everyone moans (and has done for the last 20 years) about the BC the only way MTB (and specifically downhill) will get anything of a voice is through joining the BC.
  • 4 0
 Roll on BDS - #EastCoastMTB Youth Development love it. Great series, well organised, friendly crowd, great tracks - "Bring it on" "Where the Mountain of Mournes reach down to the sea" - Really looking to forward to heading back across the Irish Sea again this year.
  • 7 0
 Need to move away from British Cycling.
  • 1 1
 If you did that it would cost more still. BC's insurance costs for event organisers are very low for the cover offered and trying to find your own policy to cover the same would cost a huge amount more.
  • 6 2
 Should just be called the Scottish and Welsh series! couldnt even find a location in England for one of the events! Absolutely disgraceful! Shame on you Bitish Cycling!
  • 4 1
 no tracks in england are long enough.
  • 1 0
 well 20 years ago there were no dh tracks period.
  • 2 0
 First off may I say that I do enjoy the BDS/SDA events and the craic at each round. But As the father of a juvenile rider I do think entry for the events are overpriced. Entry for the Scottish MX Federation rounds cost between £15 for a junior to £40 for an adult. The organisers still have the same issues to deal with-insurances, first aid cover, taping, toilets etc (no uplift obviously) and THEY supply marshals so no waiting about for events to kick off. That means you could do 5 rounds for the cost of entry of 1 SDA & 6 for the cost of a BDS. Makes you think.
  • 1 0
 I don't think it's the total cost of BDS races that pisses people off, it's the value for money.
For roughly 25% more cost of the average Midlands/Welsh/Scottish race, you seem to get about 25% less riding. Then it's the subsequent being told to "just shut up, it's tough" that really rubs it in
  • 1 0
 Took a youth team to over 20 races in 2015 Irish Scotish Welsh and two IXS Rookie Cups all very well run races however if you ask the kids what they think BDS is for them the highlight of the season
  • 1 0
 Mostly North Wales and the usual Couple in Scotland Downhill Series.....MNWCSDS.Ok not a snappy as BDS but a little more accurate if you're being pedantic.
  • 5 4
 All this great New Year content and I'm just sitting here, scratching my head, like... "Wonder where Gwinn will end up?"
  • 1 3
 scott bikes
  • 5 1
 God bikes
  • 3 1
 Ahhh Rachels legs....
  • 2 1
 I bet you want a kebab now
  • 1 0
 And he isn't even a Canuck
  • 3 5
 on these races you always see on videos guys with plates with number bigger than THOUSAND, more than 1000 participants in these races seriously ?? Smile
  • 15 1
 Around 320 riders at each event. Around 550x different competitors over the series.

Race Categories and running order for both seeding and race run. Race numbers shown in brackets:
Juvenile – DMR 13-14 years (900-925)
Youth – Marzocchi 15-16 years (800-899)
Grand Veteran – Hookit Products 50 and over (780-799)
Veteran – Dainese 40-49 years (700-774)
Master – NS Bikes 30-39 years (600-699)
Junior Women – Rachel Atherton 13-18 years (130-149)
Women – Uberbike – 13 and over (160-199)
Elite Women – Schwalbe Tires 19 and over (100-125)
Junior – Spank 17-18 years (500-599)
Senior – Shimano – 19-29 years (300-399)
Expert – X-Fusion 19 and over (200-299)
Elite – Schwalbe Tires – 19 and over (1-99)
  • 3 5
 thanks for that precision !







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