British University's Cross Country MTB Championships 2012

At last the MTB Cross Country Championships had finally arrived. It was very touch and go whether BUCS were going to hold it, which would have been very unfortunate; but the date was set and preparations were made.

Dronfield in Sheffield was the venue; a former Midlands Round so I knew it was going to be a pretty nice course.

Arriving Saturday afternoon I was able to pre ride the course…..with a twist!!I noticed two Range Rovers hanging about; blacked out windows the lot. It seemed pretty suspicious but I carried on with my 2 laps. It was muddy and slippery in a few places but to me that’s just what I like! When I got back to the car, the two Range Rovers had gone and there was a rather nice looking helicopter in its place! According to my mum, Elton John was air lifted and then transferred in to one of the cars and taken to Chesterfield just down the road where he was playing that evening! Well I never expected that the day before a race!

Race Day

I went about my normal routine prior to the race, as its second nature to me and helps me focus. I was confident that I could win it but I didn’t want this to override my concentration because anything can happen in a race!

A good warm up on the rollers and fully hydrated I was ready to rock and roll. I was actually nervous, but not the same nerves as I get in a National or World Cup. The men went off a couple of minutes in front as it was going to be bedlam weaving in and out of the slower riders in the mud.

The gun went off and I hit the pedals pretty hard. I had an ok start, not as fast as I usually go off but just enough to get in the lead. I lead up the grass field and had already caught the guys off the bad off the mens race. There was a longish muddy slippery climb which was a nightmare getting up with so many riders everywhere; ttyres were slipping and people were coming off left right and centre it was quite a laugh! I decided to get off and leg it up as fast as I could as it was much quicker!! Then it hit single track in the woods where there were more queues and even more mud! More gaps were forming so I was weaving in and out of the guys as quick as I could to gain more places and increase the gap between 2^nd Place.

By the second lap riders were much more spread out so it was easier to ride properly. I was in the lead and riding pretty well; picking each rider off bit by bit as I rode through the mens field. The descents were really fun; not to slippery but pretty fast and flowed well with speed. I made a couple of silly mistakes but nothing that cost me the race or delayed me too much. I had a bottle every lap to keep my energy levels up but as they were pretty short laps I didn’t need so much.

The final lap I was passing the slower females and encouraged them as they let me through; they were relieved to see the leader as some of them looked pretty exhausted!

It was a good fun race and was so happy with winning. As its my final year at Uni I wanted Gold; the previous years I had 2^nd and 3^rd so it was definitely in my sights for the win.

In came Ruby Miller, Cardiff University 2^nd place and 3^rd Anna Buick, Manchester University; both familiar faces on the XC scene, so it couldn’t have been a better podium J

A great way to finish my years at Uni- Thank you Marjons :D

Now its time to live the dream.....