British Cycling has announced the riders to represent Britain at the 2008 Mountain Bike World Championships at Fort William in September.
Cross Country selection
Under-23 Women - Amy Hunt
Junior Women - Annie Last, Annabel Simpson, Amy Thompson
Downhill selection
Elite Women* - Rachel Atherton, Helen Gaskell, Fionn Griffiths, Tracy Moseley
Junior Women - Katy Curd
4X selection
Elite Women* - Joey Gough, Fionn Griffiths
* There may be further selections in these categories pending results of the National Points DH Series event in Moelfre/4X Nat Champs
Jenny Copnall
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You may have noted that there are no Senior Female riders in the XC selection which has lead to an understandably annoyed and disappointed Jenny Copnal who very recently won her 4th British Championship medal.
With the World Champs being on British soil this year, it's a strange choice, surely it would be a great opportunity for British riders to have a go in front of a home crowd?
Jenny Copnall is obviously a little peeved about the decision, she says "Having won the British Championship for the fourth time last weekend, I was certain that I had earned my right to represent the nation at our home World Champs. It is with great sadness that I now have to report that I have not been selected to represent Great Britain at an event that has been my definitive goal this season, and a target ever since the announcement was originally made that such a prestigious event was to be held on British soil. Indeed, no female rider will be representing Britain in the senior cross country event, despite there being a full home nation allocation of seven places available.
It is my belief that this is the first time that a host nation has opted for non representation in a race at their World Champs. After the recent National Championship our senior women's category also stands alone as the only category where both the Champion (myself) and the runner up (Scotland's Ruth Mcgavigan) have not been selected to ride at Fort William. In other words, all our other National Champions will have the honour of representing their country in this race."
We have requested a statement from British Cycling to see why the decision has been made and the reasoning behind it. We'll keep you posted on their response as soon as we hear back!
Keith Tokeley 2
