May 2010: Bundesliga - Heubacher Mountain Bike Festival

Julien Absalon and Annika Langvad won the elite men's and women's races at the second round of the International MTB-Bundesliga in Heubach, Germany. The Frenchman Absalon won the HC-category race ahead of Belgian Roel Paulissen and Spaniard José Hermida while Danish champion Langvad surprised runner-up Anja Gradl of Germany. Canadian Emily Batty jumped on the podium in third.

"The two years before, I was not in my best shape when I was at Heubach," said Absalon. "Today, I felt good on the uphill and also on the downhill. Heubach is maybe the hardest race of the whole year, but this long downhill makes a lot of fun. I like it."

Four chasers fought for second place. While German Moritz Milatz made a mistake just before the last lap and crashed, Paulissen was getting stronger and stronger, lap by lap. At the end, he sprinted out World Cup overall leader Hermida for the second spot on the podium.

Surprisingly in women's competition, Irina Kalentieva did not take a fourth victory in Heubach. The World Champion, who lives just 15km away, complained that she still had not recovered from the recent World Cup races.

"My legs aren't fresh," she said.

So the way to victory was free and clear for Annika Langvad. The 26-year-old went into race very fast followed by Anja Gradl and Emily Batty.

July 09: British Mountain Bike National Championships

This weekend saw the 2009 National Mountain Bike Championships in Innerleithen, Scotland.

The weekend was a Cross Country/Downhill mix with both disciplines bringing the top athletes in the country together for a showdown on a tough course set at one of the 7 stanes MTB trails. The XC course tested the riders to their limit with a lot of crashes, broken bikes and tired limbs. We have the results here now and a report to follow shortly...

Results & Report

July 09: Welsh National Championships

For the first time in many years the Welsh were to crown a MTB National Champion. This event had been missing from the calendar for some time but with the organising of Steve Corbyn and some willing sponsors, Pontypool Park in South wales would decide the fate of these new champions who would be rewarded with a great looking jersey for their hard efforts.

Pontypool Rugby Club... a strange venue?
Well you would think so and on entry to the complex, a swimming pool and a rugby field would not persuade you otherwise, but when exploring further you would soon find the lung busting climbs and technical rooty descents that would make for one of the toughest championships in a while!

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June 09: British Mountain Bike Series Round 4

The sun was out for the second BMBS in a row making for a very hot day with lots of close racing around the technical course at Crow Hill in the New Forest. Olympic star, Liam Killeen was in attendance as was Robin Seymour and the ever improving Lee Williams but no sign of Oli B!

This venue had a mixed reaction last year for the National Championships so how did it fair this time around?
Event organiser Martyn Salt and his team again did a great job with all the usual facilities we have come to expect from a National Event and for the second time in a row he even ordered the sun to come out and bake everyone alive!

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