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Report: 2010 British MTB Championships - Cross Country
Last and Killeen Take Senior Titles
Words And Photography By Joolze Dymond
2010 British MTB Championships Coverage | Full Results
Liam Killeen and Annie Last are the 2010 Senior National Cross-Country mountain bike champions, following a fine day of racing at Pippingford.
Race Video By Paul Robinson
In the Senior men's race, Liam Killeen was involved in a tight battle with great rival Oli Beckingsale for some three laps before Oli began to encounter transmission problems, which culminated in a snapped chain, costing him some five minutes. Killeen was thus able to ride away to a very comfortable victory.
Beckingsale fought back having dropped well down the top ten and came through to claim a very impressive second place. Paul Oldham caught Adrian Lansley, who was up into second for a time, to claim the third place on the line. Both Killeen and Beckingsale spoke later of their frustration at not being able to complete their epic battle which should have gone down to the wire on a course which suited their contrasting talents equally.
Oli Beckingsale and Liam Killeen Interviews
Last's win in the senior women's race was relatively trouble free and she was soon in the clear off the start and was never seriously threatened thereafter. Jenny Copnall, officially retired and absent from this season's national scene, took time off from her wedding preparations and surprised herself with third place. She was up into second for a while until Maddy Horton caught her - Copnall's lack of training left her flagging a little at the end of what was a very long race for the women. Sally Bigham didn't make the start after illness struck, whilst Sue Clarke was also absent, injured.
Annie Last And Lily Matthews Interview
As ever, the national championships produce drama and glory in equal measure. For Isla Rowntree, there was both as she made her first competitive appearance on a mountain bike for something like a decade and walked - almost literally - off with the Veteran Women's title. Having planned to just give the race a go for fun, her planned bike wasn;t ready in time and she found herself out on a singlespeed steed, not really ideal for the undulating course. However, when race leader Jane Cumming punctured, Isla found herself in the lead and never looked back, though she admitted walking the final climb to the finish after the slogging singlespeed finally took its toll on her.
The Junior Men's race was always going to be a great battle and Steve James and Grant Ferguson duly served up a classic. James got away from his rival on the second lap, but Ferguson came back at him and on the final climb on the last lap they looked more like track sprinters than XC racers as they almost came to a standstill trying to tempt each other into committing to the final sprint. In the end James took it by a narrow margin.
Carl Sturgeon's win in the Masters' race had seemed most unlikely as he drifted over 20 seconds behind the leading bunch on the opening lap. However, Sturgeon had a plan and he calmly picked off his rivals over the next lap or so and went on to coolly claim the title by almost 2 minutes.
Veteran Race Interviews
Finally, in the Veteran men's race, Paul Hopkins was very keyed up but found himself in a massive battle with Alex Glasgow, the Scot who almost made his long trip down from the Highlands pay off as he went through the first two laps at the front with his rival. Finally, Hopkins managed to get free on the third lap and was a relived man when he came in with just over a minute to pare to claim his first Veteran's title.
Youth Race Interviews
Top Three Results (Full Results)
Espoir Female
1 Lily Matthews - 100% me 4 laps in 01:51:10
2 Jessie Roberts WXC Mountain Bike Team UK - 4 laps in 02:01:39
3 Danielle Rider Sherwood Pines Cycles/Cooperative Motor Group - 4 laps in 02:16:32
Espoir Male
1 David Fletcher 100% ME - 5 laps in 01:51:43
2 Ben Thomas Torq Performance - 5 laps in 01:54:31
3 Jon Pybus AWcycles.co.uk/Giant - 5 laps in 01:55:29
Grand Veteran Female
1 Lydia Gould Torq Performance - 2 laps in 00:58:34
2 Debbie Burton ACTiV / Trek - 2 laps in 01:07:52
3 Gill Egner - 2 laps in 01:17:23
Grand Veteran Male
1 Ian Wright Raleigh Racing/USE/High 5 - 4 laps in 01:42:54
2 Bruce Rollison JD Cycles Ilkley - 405522 4 laps in 01:44:17
3 Gregor Grant - 4 laps in 01:45:42
Junior Female
1 Katy Winton - Glentress Riders 3 laps in 01:26:18
2 Hollie Bettles WXC Mountain Bike Race Team UK - 3 laps in 01:41:05
3 Ruby Baker Behind the Bikeshed - 3 laps in 01:56:19
Junior Male
1 Steven James Pedalon.co.uk - 4 laps in 01:26:30
2 Grant Ferguson - Dooleys Cycles RT 4 laps in 01:26:41
3 Kenta Gallagher Scott UK - 4 laps in 01:32:01
Juvenile Female
1 Lucy Grant Peebles CC/Alpine Bikes - 1 laps in 00:27:58
2 Ffion James Abergavenny RC - 1 laps in 00:28:27
3 Sarah Lomas Matlock Cycling Club - 1 laps in 00:30:46
Juvenile Male
1 William Cheaney Lloyds Cycles Swadlincote - 2 laps in 00:51:14
2 Calum Magowan Peebles Cycles/Alpine Bikes - 2 laps in 00:54:14
3 Thomas Van Holten Redrock Rangers/Highland Bicycle Co - 2 laps in 00:54:58
Master Female
1 Jo Munden Team Cycle Kingdom - 4 laps in 01:58:45
2 Ruth Mordaunt - 4 laps in 02:01:31
3 Emma Bradley Torq Development - 4 laps in 02:05:38
Master Male
1 Carl Sturgeon Lutterworth Cycle Centre - 5 laps in 01:54:33
2 Simon Ernest AW Cycles.co.uk/Giant - 5 laps in 01:56:15
3 Stephen James MODA UK/Bike Art - 5 laps in 01:56:26
Senior Female
1 Annie Last 100% ME - 5 laps in 02:07:43
2 Maddie Horton Team Certini/McCaulays - 5 laps in 02:14:42
3 Jenny Copnall - 5 laps in 02:17:18
Senior Male
1 Liam Killeen - 6 laps in 02:04:54
2 Oliver Beckingsale Giant Racing - 6 laps in 02:12:12
3 Paul Oldham Hope Factory Racing - 6 laps in 02:13:04
Super Veteran Male
1 Victor Barnett - Welland Valley CC 3 laps in 01:24:31
2 Andy Smith 1st Gear Cycles/Gencon - 3 laps in 01:27:41
3 Steve Collen Bike Factory - 3 laps in 02:03:48
Veteran Female
1 Isla Rowntree Stourbridge CC - 3 laps in 01:26:11
2 Nicky Hughes The Kinesis Morvelo Project - 3 laps in 01:30:52
3 Anne Murray Square Wheels - 3 laps in 01:35:06
Veteran Male
1 Paul Hopkins Merida UK - 4 laps in 01:31:23
2 Alex Glasgow Nevis Cycles RT - 4 laps in 01:32:33
3 Simon Willats Ridebike.co.uk - 4 laps in 01:37:32
Youth Female
1 Alice Barnes Palmer Park Velo - 2 laps in 00:54:18
2 Bethany Crumpton Halesowen A & CC - 2 laps in 00:57:40
3 Amy Roberts - Cardiff Ajax CC 2 laps in 00:58:46
Youth Male
1 Jack Finch VC Deal/Hammond/Activ - 3 laps in 01:10:31
2 Alex Welburn Maxgear RT - 3 laps in 01:11:32
3 Alex Baker Orange Monkey - 3 laps in 01:11:44
