British National XC Champs & Hit The North

The Altura Patterson Training team was in two places at once this weekend, with Ruth and Simon racing for the Masters titles down at Crow Hill, while Andy and I braved the rain up in Bury for Hit The North.

At the Nationals, Ruth was first up on Sunday at 10:32, and put in a fantastic ride to take the silver medal. The title went to Nina Davies with a very strong ride, and Caroline Goward claimed the bronze medal. We'll have a race report from Ruth up soon.

Simon was not so lucky, and snapped his chain in the first of his four laps, and although he managed to repair it, the weakened chain continued to break and he had to retire from the race. Sam Gardner successfully defended his Masters title, with Matt Barrett taking silver and Luke Mosely taking bronze. On a brighter note, Si did win the wheelie competition the night before and received a tray of Fosters beer for his efforts!

Big congratulations to Jenny Copnall for her fifth, well-earned title. Congratulations also to Liam, Amy, Dave, Nina, Sam, Annie, Hamish and all the other Champs on their titles. Preparing for a high-pressure event like a National Championship is really tough, and those who come through with the jerseys deserve respect.

Meanwhile, Andy and I were up in Manchester, representing event sponsors Powerbar at Hit The North. This was a 12 hour race just off the M61 near Bolton, and it was a superb event. We ran a stall for Powerbar, as well as fielding a four-person team including myself and Andy, Mark Alker from Singletrack Mag and Karl Pearson from Powerbar. Powerbar put up a free refill service with their C2Max Sports Drink, and we kept the carbs flowing for all the mud-caked riders as they shuffled through.

Unfortunately the weather spoiled things a bit and turned the singletrack and bombhole sections of the course into a muddy quagmire, and there was a lot of running and carrying of bikes required in order to get through each lap. We spent as much time washing bikes and carting barrels of water as we did riding, although we had a lot of help from Mark's boys Tom (12) and Sam (9), who did a great job as our team support. Thanks guys!

Rain aside, the event was brilliant, and the organsers did a fantastic job. The after-party in the beer tent with a proper Northern DJ was a great idea (it had stopped raining by then), and the names on our number plates were a nice touch. Well done to all those who stuck it out to the end, hopefully next year we'll get sunshine and dusty trails!

Mark turned up on a carbon hardtail... so we made him warm up on the turbo to complete the image!