Canoe Slalom Olympian Campbell Walsh made his MTB racing debut on Friday night at the second MTB Race Night. Scotsman Walsh, who is based in Nottingham in order to train at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont, appeared to thoroughly enjoy the experience of competing on land in the event along with 36 local Senior, Junior and Youth riders at Cotgrave Country Park.
The former Cotgrave Colliery site which closed in the late 1990's has been transformed by Nottingham County Council and the Forestry Commission in to a stunning 60 hectare Country Park which includes new ponds, wetlands, open space and broadleaf woodland including over 120,000 trees. VC Nottingham's Course designers have been busy there over the last few weeks, developing around 500m of single track in the woodland and incorporating a series of technical ditch crossings.
U12's report
It was good to see many riders from the first event last week in Bingham, back for more in the U12's race. A lead group of four riders went away from the start, containing Karl Baillie, Reece Egner and Daniel Gorejewski (Witham Wheelers), and Charlotte Broughton (LORC). At the start of lap two, Charlotte decided to take control of the race and put in a strong attack on the fire road.
Over the next five laps, a very focussed and determined Charlotte continued to extend her lead, eventually finishing over a minute ahead. The battle for second place was fought out between the three chasers, with Daniel coming through to challenge strongly with a lap to go, followed by Reece and then Karl and with no one able to get on terms with Daniel, this was how they were placed the finish.
Youth race report
The Youth event was run in conjunction with the Seniors and Juniors, with Youth riders placed after 30 minutes of racing and offered the opportunity to continue to complete the full senior distance if they chose to.
Joe Kirkham (VC Long Eaton) had a very quick start on the fire road and was already 10s clear of Sam Broughton (LORC) going in to the first section of single track. Behind them, Ben Salt (LORC) was riding in 3rd, with Alice Barnes (Palmer Park Velo) having a great ride to close up to within 5 seconds of Ben mid-race, but paid for her efforts and eventually drifted back to finish 4th.
Looking strong & composed, Joe (who is still in the U14/Juvenile category) won the Youth event and decided to continue for the full hour, finishing a very impressive 8th place in the Senior and Junior event.
The final race contained a wide variety of age, ability and experience with Seniors, Juniors, Youths, Women and Veterans all starting together. Amongst them, Belgian based Gabby Day (Vision 1 RT) was making a rare UK appearance, Olympic Canoeist Campbell Walsh was competing for the first time, and local MTB legend Pete Harris (Pearce Cycles) was warming up for the Mountain Mayhem event.
Jim Bryan (www.zepnet.com) led the race from start to finish with a very commanding performance, despite claiming he only has limited time to train as a result of his job as full-time mechanic for the Cannondale Factory Racing Team.
Second place was contested by a group of three chasers that included Junior rider Joe Peake riding for race sponsors TSW Cycles and team mates Rick Lister and Leigh Andrews (www.zepnat.com). Dropping in to the final corner, it was Lister leading, from Andrews with Peake challenging for 3rd place, but with only 100m to go there wasn't enough time for Peake to get on terms and the www.zepnat.com riders completed a clean sweep of the podium.
The final round of the series takes place this Friday at Bingham Leisure Centre, Nottingham. For full information browser over to http://www.vcnotts.com/mtbracenights.htm
Senior Results
1st Jim Bryan www.zepnat.com 1.00.31
2nd Rick Lister Team Endura @2.07
3rd Leigh Andrews (U23) www.zepnat.com @2.10
4th Joe Peake (J) TSW Cycles @2.15
5th James Shaw www.zepnat.com @3.24
6th Peter Harris (V) Pearce Cycles @3.37
7th Steve Poole (V) www.zepnat.com @5.22
8th Joe Kirkham (Y) VC Long Eaton @6.07
9th David Perry Go Sport Spex @6.24
10th Bruce Dalton (J) Matlock CC @6.28
11th Ben Underwood @7.56
12th Richard Howard TSW Cycles @1 lap
13th Gabby Day (W) Vision 1 RT "
14th Campbell Walsh "
15th Andy Moore Lincoln Wheelers "
16th Greg McCullum Nottingham Clarion "
17th Mike Woodward VC Nottingham "
18th Paul Dalton Matlock CC "
19th Sam Parker (J) 4 Life "
20th Andy Faulknall LORC "
21st Paul Conneely Witham Wheelers "
22nd Gareth Shepherd DVATC "
23rd Robert Phillips "
24th Phil Botting @2 laps
Youth Race results
1st Joe Kirkham VC Long Eaton 28.08
2nd Sam Broughton LORC @1.44
3rd Ben Salt LORC @3.34
4th Alice Barnes Palmer Park Velo @3.59
5th Peter Cocker Witham Wheelers @6.03
6th Gabriel Bird Nottingham Clarion @8.11
7th Carl Jennings Witham Wheelers @9.12
8th Ben Addlesee Witham Wheelers @1 lap
9th Ashley Money Witham Wheelers "
10th Daniel Jennings "
U12 Results
1st Charlotte Broughton LORC 10.55
2nd Daniel Gorzejewski Witham Wheelers @1.14
3rd Reece Egner Witham Wheelers @1.15
4th Karl Baillie Witham Wheelers @1.41
5th George Mitchell Witham Wheelers @1 lap
6th Samuel Douglas Sherwood CC "
7th James Swadling Nottingham Clarion "
8th Ben Musson Witham Wheelers "
9th Shannon Bell "
10th Sophie Bell "
11th Millie Geere Nottingham Clarion "
12th Clementine Bird Nottingham Clarion @2 laps
13th Joshua Jenkins Sherwood CC "
14th Callum Hancock Nottingham Clarion "
15th Caitlin Conneely Witham Wheelers "
16th Molly Geere Nottingham Clarion "
