2011 XC National Championships

The CNP - Orbea team produced their strongest performance of the year on the most important race weekend of the year, the national championships. For 2011 the championships were held at Aske near Richmond, Yorkshire. 
The approx. 6km circuit had a little bit of course to suit everyones tastes and was divide into three very distinct sections. The first punctuated by 3 steep grassy climbs and two steep descents , the middle section of the lap more of a sherwood style course, flat fireroads and fast singletrack and finally the slow tight and twisty singletrack section that brought you to the final fireroad stretch. With the bad weather over the weekend it just add the final ingredient to make it a little bit more technical and a true mountain biking course worthy of any national championships.

Matt Sumpton - 2011 Junior National Champion

The first of the CNP-Orbea riders to compete was Cameron Balfour in the youth race. Cameron made a great start and found himself within the top 5 riders and for the first time this year a real chance of racing against the best youth riders. However sadly for Cameron he was to befall the only bad luck of weekend snapping his chain on the first lap ending his race. Cameron was very down and frustrated post race as anyone who has suffered mechanical issues whilst racing well can understand. However the team know it is only a matter of time before Cameron gets the result he deserves.

John sliding his way to 8th

Next up was the mid day race which included the junior national championships and for the team the best chance of receiving an illustrious national championship medal. Matt made a solid start and buoyed with confidence of looking for a hat-trick of victories over the last month took charge of the race on the very first steep climb gaping the field and powering on solo for the remainder of not just the lap but the rest of the race. Lapping the first lap over 1 minute faster than second place he didn't look back and by the half way point had build a 2 and half minute lead. With a little sideline encouragement from 5 time national champion Oli Beckingsale Matt pushed on to ride a faultless race not making a single mistake on the tricky circuit finishing the 4 lap race almost 4 minutes ahead of second place. Awesome performance and just reward for rider who until finishing his A-levels just before Margam has had to juggle school work with training. Next up for Matt will be the World Championships in Champery at the beginning of September and now a full time athlete he can really give it his best shot. 
In the Masters race Darren Alexander who has struggled with illness over the past two months finished a creditable 8th in his UCI age group of 35-39 and 16th overall in the BC Masters category.

Darren negotiating the first chute

The final race of the day was the senior national championships 60 of the best (over 23yrs) riders in the country lined up to do battle including CNP-Orbea's John Whittington and Oli Holmes. John lined up on the 3rd row Oli on the 6 neither had expectations only to ride a hard consistent smooth race. As the gun was fired the race was on and John made a screamer moving up into the top 5 Oli on the other hand was stuck in traffic being cut up and crested the top of the first climb in the mid 30's. The traffic jam down the first section of singletrack was painfully slow for those mid pack. On the steep climbs Oli made a few more places moving up into the mid twenties. Entering the final section of singletrack John made a few mistakes and finally slipped back to around 10th place. Oli picked of few more riders but was once again held up really badly on the long section of singletrack. By the end of the fireroad drag back to the arena Oli had made his way into 21st place. As the race progressed both riders settle into the race having good battles with other riders and going into the last lap John in 8th and held off a late charge by 9th place Ben Thomas to cross the finishing line a very impressive 8th. Oli second half a race became a relatively lonely affair having shrugged off Ben Simmons he was to far behind the next rider to close the gap and rode to line conserving his 17th place. For Oli this felt like a massive relief having finally felt like he was progressing back to feeling like a half decent xc racer. 

Oli climbing his way to 17th

So overall a great weekend for the team and a big thanks to all the 2011 team backers and sponsors, CNP and Orbea who provided perfect nutrition and perfect bikes to power the riders to achieve the results they deserve. To Ken Jones at ominpex who provided the team with awesome Bioracer team clothing (just need a national champs jersey now) and conti tyres who kept are wheels from sliding to much. As always a massive shout out from all the riders to our team support crew Jan and Dave and this weekend big thanks to Darren for his Karcher petrol powered power wash which kept our bikes spotless.