Photo: Andy McCandlish
|
No we're not talking football! The World Cup rolls into Fort William this weekend for Round 4 of the UCI MTB XC Series. It's set to be another exciting event with plenty of riders on the start line including a great turnout from the British female XC racing fraternity. In fact, there will be 12 female British riders among the 80+ strong mass start, including our fastest girls in the form of current National Champion Jenny Copnall and Massi-Abarth rider Sue Thomas.
The course is set to be suitably challenging and a real test of all-round XC abilities with technical rocky downhill sections such as "Blue Crane" and "Nessie", swooping woodland singletrack in the form of "Cackle", and fast flowing berms with a couple of cheeky opportunities for airtime on the "Berminator". The course also clocks up an impressive 1,200m of ascent in 4 laps with the singletrack killer climb of "Lazy K" featuring on all but the opening lap of the race.
The race organisers have worked hard to improve spectator access for this year's event, so get yourself there to cheer on the local girls! If you can't be there this weekend but would love to ride the World Cup circuit then get yourself to Fort William to ride the Witches Trail, which is open all year round.
Photo: Andy McCandlish
|
As a quick aside, it's fantastic to see the surge in racers on the National circuit this year, particularly in the women's categories, which is reflected in the number of riders making it to the Fort William World Cup. If you fancy joining the crowd then why not make the trip to South Wales on 3-4 June and have a go at a National MTB Series event? You'll be in good company, I promise!
Finally, it will be my first ever World Cup event and, personally, I've decided to follow some advice given to me by Raleigh rider Michelle Bergstrand "glass of red the night before and enjoy the race"! I'll provide a racer's perspective of the experience on Shecycles.com soon.
