Last weekend saw Firecrest Skills and Fitness Trained Athletes in action at both Downhill DH and Cross-Country XC rounds of the British Mountain Bike Series.
British Cross Country Series – Final Round – Langdon Hills – Essex
Maxine Filby rounded out a super successful season in the Women’s Pro-Elite category with another podium ride. Placing third for the second time in the 2012 season secured her a fantastic fourth overall in the series. The Langdon Hills course didn’t present any major problems from a technical perspective and Maxine was one of a number of riders who are calling on XC race organisers to find more technical courses so that the jump from domestic racing to international competition is so big. Of course we here at Firecrest we fully support that and have felt for years that domestic XC mountain biking has become more like road racing on dirt! Let’s hope the organisers are listening?!?
From a Firecrest Skills and Fitness perspective its mission accomplished as far as Maxine’s goals for the 2012 season (a podium at British XC and top five overall) are concerned. Mark (Baines, Firecrest Fitness Guru) and I are already working with Maxine on her 2013 campaign! Look out for her on a podium near you soon!
For the full results from Langdon Hills Click here>>>
Halo Brisith Downhill Series – Rnd5 – Bringewood Forest, Shropshire
The downhillers were racing at the penultimate round of the British Downhill Series at the popular venue of Brindgewood. The event supported by the team at Pearce Cycles was one of the slickest in years with their fleet of Landrover’s really doing the business on the uplift which has become one of the crucial elements to a good weekends racing.
The weekend was dominated by the weather with a fast dry track drenched by biblical downpours on Saturday afternoon the riders dug out the spiked tyres and started to master the ruts rather than the dust!
For Firecrest trained athletes it was another stellar days racing. In the Elite Category Olie Burton was a fraction of the podium in 8th and Harry Molloy came home in 13th. It was great to see mountain bike legend Steve Peat back on top of the box. Peaty showed that the skill in downhill is all about carrying speed and when on form he can carry more than most stopping the clock almost 3 seconds clear of second with the World Championships next weekend it was great to see Peaty on form.
In the Junior Category hopes were high in the Madison Saracen Camp with Firecrest trained rider Josh Lowe fresh from a months DH training in the Alps. To say it was tight is an understatement, Josh came home in 7th but just half a second would have put him in 4th. Testament to the improvements he’s made in August and with the final round to go everything’s focussed on making it onto the box for the series finals.
It was great to see former Aston Hill Junior DeVo rider Phil Atwill get his first Junior win too. Phil’s run time would have put him safely inside the top 15 times on the day and gave him a 4 second winning margin. With the World Champs next week it’s awesome to see Phil on form and we here at Firecrest wish him the best of luck for next weekend in Austria.
For the full results click on over to Roots and Rain here>>>