Dragon XC round 3
Llaneglwys Forest, Wales: 09/09/07
By Ben and Calum
Ben...
The Sport category had the top four ranked riders in the UK so I knew it would be a tough race. I was determined to be first into the singletrack to avoid any crashes or delays from riders less confident on the technical bits. Being in front with Calum for the first lap helped us both pull out a gap over our opponents in each of the races as we worked together. Behind me in the Sport category Gerald Tudor's chain had snapped putting an early end to his race. Nick Evans was chasing in 2nd place and after lap 1 I was leading by 1 minute 19 seconds. I felt comfortable and was able to attack on the climbs and this is where I dropped Calum.
Support from Ken Chamberlain (Calum's dad) kept me updated with split times and kept me motivated (cheers for your support). During lap 2 I had the technical downhill's dialled including multiple northshore (wooden bridges) and was enjoying the race out on my own. By this point I had caught 4th place in the Expert category and was having a good race with him. Eventually I won with a gap of 2 minutes 28 seconds, Nick held out for another 2nd position and David Evans finished a further 2 minutes 56 seconds behind in 3rd. As a bonus because I had finished 1st, 4th and 1st in the 3 rounds of the Dragon XC series I won the Sport category title.
Calum...
Having pre-ridden the course with Ben-boy we knew it was going to be another good race. The singletrack suited me and from the off Ben and I didn't want to get stuck behind anyone. On this note, as we lined up together and were sent on our way at the same time I made a dash for the front, trailing the Juniors and Sport riders behind (but not for long). Ben and I were one and two into the first singletrack and from there on I don't think Ben saw another rider apart from me. I though dropped off him on the steep first climb on the second lap, the intervals from during the week telling. This left me in 'no-mans land' between the leading Sport rider (Ben) and the second place Junior (Sion O'Boyle). I was caught by Sion on the second lap, and sat on his tail letting him do the work.
When we came round for the 3rd and final lap I got a twig in my cassette as we went over the start/finish and had to pull it out: this gave Sion an advantage up the climb and frustrated me. As such I worked hard to pull him back, recovered and then broke him up a climb. I stayed ahead for the remainder of the race without incident (the most major of the race being loosing my bottle of flat coke and sugar on the second lap!) and came to finish a short while after Ben (just 1min 30sec) but completing the Mountain Trax top pairing!
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------ SPORT 1 3 01:24:00 BEN THOMAS 27:20 27:36 29:03 JUNIOR 1 3 01:25:30 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 27:26 28:54 29:09