BMBS Round 4 Margam Park

Margam Park played host for round 4 of the BMBS and after two flat courses and a man made one it was time for an old school proper mtb course big ups and due to the days before weather slippery downs. The whole CNP - Orbea team was present with Roy deciding to break his semi xc retirement for an outing in Grand Vets.


The day before the weather was horrible and very reminiscent of last years mud fest but with forecast for the next day showing sun it was going to make the course conditions interesting and the team opted for continental x - kings which were perfect for the conditions.


The weather forecast was bang on and the early morning sun revealed the temperatures were going to be sky high come the mid day and afternoon races. In the relatively cooler morning race Cameron had possibly the worst start possible slipping a pedal and falling to the back of the youth pack. However a strong remained of the lap clawed his way back to 8th. By the end of the last lap gain a couple more places to cross the line in 6th.


As mid day approached the temperatures crept towards the mid twenties, eventually topping out at 28, both John and Oli were looking forward to the race for John maybe a little to much. As the elite race hit the first technical singletrack the bottle neck effect led to the field running. On mounting before the first techy shoot John made the critical error of being too keen to set off and maintain position before clipping in at least one pedal. With a front row view of the incident Oli then witness his CNP - Orbea team-mate take a heavy over the bars crash. Landing heavily on his knee John's race was in danger of being over before it started. Oli avoided John and some how his bike to finish the first lap strongly inside the top 20. The second lap went really well too picking off riders who were abandoning due to the heat moving into 14th but sadly for Oli the heat attacked his body too. Oli complain post race saying it felt like his body went into a safety mode purely based on staying cool and providing him zero power to his legs. Having virtually come to crawl Oli crossed the line in 22nd. Sadly for John his knee pain became to much and he abandoned after 2 laps.


Ride of the day went to Matt Sumpton once again. Having set the target of winning a round of BMBS at the beginning of the season he succeed in completing that goal. The course with it's climbing nature and along with the heat (Matt has always thrived in the heat) things just fell nicely into place to allow him to ride comfortably to his biggest win of his career. This despite finding it difficult on the slippery descents crashing at least once a lap. Matt is now fired up for the National Championships and the possibility of being selected for the World Championships.

Photo from the Orange Monkey - Cannondale website

In the afternoon race the temperature was at it's hottest and the team had for it's first time two riders represented. Roy almost equalled Matts success leading for the majority of the race until like Oli the heat got to him and on the last lap he faded back to 3rd. A brilliant result nevertheless and maybe enough of an encouragement for Roy to have a go for the Grand Vets national title come July. Darren having only just fully recovered from his spell of illness survived the heat as well as he could to finish 20th.


Sadly the support team was down to 50% for the weekend and we have no photos of the event. But thanks to Orange Monkey - Cannondale team we can provide a photo of Matt on the podium.