North Wales Cross Country League, Bangor

A year's worth of weather greeted the runners from across North Wales and the borders for the second in this years North Wales Cross Country League at Bangor.

The mornings sporadic rain was followed by dry weather, but as the junior men and senior women lined up for the start, the heavens opened and down came the rain.

Two an a half laps of Treborth Athletic track fields saw me up with the leaders, as the rain stopped and the hail stones started to bounce off the runners as they snaked their way along the field and through the woods!

The X Talons 212 copped well in the mud, with plenty of grip on the up hill sections.

At the half way point, I started to pass a few runners, eventually coming home strongly in fifth place.

Pictures can be seen on the SportpicturesCymru website.

National Open Cyclo Cross Championship

Day two of the weekend, saw me compete in my second race of the weekend. This time it was the National Open Cyclo Cross Race at Prestatyn, organised by TLI Cymru. The weather was kinder today, as riders from the UK travelled to North Wales to compete for the cyclo cross jersey.

I was competing in the 16-19 age category, but riding the full course with the seniors. My legs were tired after the Cross Country the previous day.

My usual bad starts at these races, was today followed by a better one, as a stampede of riders tried to make it to the very tight corner in first place, in order to avoid any possible crashes. I came out unscathed, and dug in for the full hour of racing.

The course was very technical, but relatively dry following the bad weather of the previous day.

With about 2 laps to go, I couldn't feel my legs, but I clung on to finishing, in what I thought was a category win and the TLI white jersey.

At the presentation, there was no sign of my win, but 3rd in the senior men category, which the organisers had kindly decided to put me in. A disappointing end, to an otherwise good weekend of racing.

More pictures can be seen on the SportpicturesCymru web site.

Revolution Bikes Winter Cyclo Cross Series

It was the second of the Revolution Bikes Winter Cyclo Cross Series, on Sunday 24th October at Bethesda, on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park. Again, blue skies greeted a depleted field of 21 cyclists. Discussions were abound as to why, but there were a few other races on the day. The Coed y Brenin off road duathlon and the Border League 10k race at Caernarfon to name but two. However, I think the main reason was that this race was also a duathlon, consisting of five laps riding, one running, 5 cycling and finishing off with another run. This suited me just fine due my triathlon background, and hopes were high of a good finish.

Problems with my pedals, saw me at the back of the pack, so some serious riding had to be done in order to get back with the leaders. The heavy rain on the previous days, had made the course wet, but it wasn't muddy.

A new longer course going in the opposite direction to the same race two weeks ago, made it slightly easier I thought, but still challenging.

On the first run lap I was comfortable as my triathlon training saw me running strongly, as some of the others suffered with jelly legs following the bike ride.

A few more laps on the bike, with another run lap saw me passing two more, to come home as first junior, and sixth overall. Two wins in two races, sees at the top of the leader board. The new bike worked well, along with my X Talon 212's, which worked extremely well in the wet conditions.

Great pictures can be seen on the SportpicturesCymru website.

Busy weekend next week, with the second round of the North Wales Cross Country League, followed the next day by another cyclo cross race.