Sunday 20 July saw hoards of keen mountain bikers descend upon Crow Hill, Hampshire to spectate, and for some contest the most sought after win of the year: the National Championships.
Under a very rare blue sky, competitors faced a fast flowing but unrelenting 9km circuit, with just a couple of kicks. A course more suited to the power rider rather than the climbers - the faster you rode it the more technical it became.
Defending senior champion Oli Beckingsale was keen to take his 6th title, but out to stop him were some of the UK's top riders, including Olympic team mate Liam Killeen and Ian Wilkinson, keen to reverse his defeat from last year, one mighty battle was definitely on the cards.
It was to be a day full of drama and with as many twists and turns as the course itself. As the race unfolded it was clear that it would be as predicted, being played out between the two big guns, Killeen and Beckingsale, whilst Wilkinson and local rider Adrian Lansley tried hard to keep in contention and locked in their own private battle for the remaining medal.
Raced over 5 laps, it looked as if the contest was going to be decided by a sprint as Killeen and Beckingsale were evenly matched, then coming into the 4th lap Beckingsale hit a tree stump, ripping his tyre and leaving it soft. He then had to concentrate on getting to the pits for a wheel change, but with just 1 lap remaining the damage was done and Beckingsale could do nothing to close the gap Killeen had acquired.
This unlucky hitch allowed the Specialized rider to claim his first senior title whilst Beckingsale had to settle for an uncharacteristic silver. Wilkinson despite a few dodgy moments, managed to snatch a well-deserved Bronze.
In the senior women's race, all pressure was once again on the defending champion. Could Jenny Copnall realise her ambition and take her fifth national title? A talented field lined up alongside her, keen to thwart her plans including experienced international Sue Clarke, enduro specialist Liz Scallia and bronze medal winner from last year, Maddie Horton.
Copnall soon moved to the front of the field and gradually opened up a gap, which she maintained for the 4 lap race taking her to an emotional victory. Sue Clarke looked uncomfortable as she was full of cold, but managed to ease herself for most of the race into silver medal position. She couldn't however sustain her pace and slipped back into bronze, with Paula Moseley surging through to take a cracking silver to celebrate her recent 36th birthday.
Copnall says: "That was my 5th National Championship win and there's something about having 5 wins. I set my stall out at the start of the year that this was my main goal and that's why the win means so much. I've worked really hard to get here."
"The start of the year hasn't gone overly well, I suppose nationally it has but internationally it hasn't so much. But the National champs is so important because of the jersey and being able to wear it and that means a lot to me. It's what means so much to any winner of a National jersey in fact; you get to wear it all year.
"And just the whole process of when you're reigning champion putting last years jersey away and sorting out normal kit and because I've been doing it for so long it just becomes more difficult and then you think well I don't know if this will still be mine after this. It's quite a hard process and it gets harder as you get older to deal with that.
"I just prepared for this race as hard as I could and I did the best I could do. It was good having stiff competition and I wouldn't want it any other way, I challenge anybody who says that the women's category is a soft target, it certainly isn't and I've said over and over again, there are so many girls out there that are so capable who will be always knocking at my doors.
"I'll get back to you about jersey number 6. 5 has a nice ring to it."
New National Champion Liam says: "Oli, myself and Wilko were up there from the start and it was a tough day. The course was a very good racing course, great for the spectators and kept the riders together a great tradition course."
"Oli was strong, but unfortunately he had a mechanical, he had to change a wheel, I'm not sure exactly what happened but he just disappeared on the 4th lap, and I just kept pushing on. It was great to be able to race with him and just unfortunate about the mechanical. I just kept concentrating on the remaining sections of the race, you can never switch off, you have to concentrate and work your way through the back markers and that was quite a technical course at speed.
"I was really looking forward to racing the nationals and happy to have won my first senior title. This is another good step towards the ultimate goal in Beijing. My form seems to be going in the right direction, it was so good at the World XC Champs that I was racing at the front of a world class field and got a good result.
So I guess you could say that I'm back up to speed and finally enjoying my racing again and that's the main thing!"
